diff --git a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/CHANGELOG.md b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/CHANGELOG.md
index 2817291fea..61a8f97007 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ when conversion is feasible. Otherwise stored as
 `opentelemetry::logs::AnyValue::String`. This avoids unnecessary string
 allocation when values can be represented in their original types.
 
+- perf - small perf improvement by avoiding string allocation of `target`
+
 ## 0.28.1
 
 Released 2025-Feb-12
diff --git a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/benches/logs.rs b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/benches/logs.rs
index ff5b8530f0..c39885bc1f 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/benches/logs.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/benches/logs.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     | noop_layer_disabled         | 12 ns       |
     | noop_layer_enabled          | 25 ns       |
     | ot_layer_disabled           | 19 ns       |
-    | ot_layer_enabled            | 167 ns      |
+    | ot_layer_enabled            | 155 ns      |
 
     Hardware: Apple M4 Pro
     Total Number of Cores:	14 (10 performance and 4 efficiency)
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
     | noop_layer_disabled         | 8 ns       |
     | noop_layer_enabled          | 14 ns       |
     | ot_layer_disabled           | 12 ns       |
-    | ot_layer_enabled            | 186 ns      |
+    | ot_layer_enabled            | 130 ns      |
 */
 
 use criterion::{criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
diff --git a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/src/layer.rs b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/src/layer.rs
index 9333df861f..30ecde3157 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/src/layer.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-appender-tracing/src/layer.rs
@@ -189,8 +189,7 @@ where
 
         let mut log_record = self.logger.create_log_record();
 
-        // TODO: Fix heap allocation
-        log_record.set_target(target.to_string());
+        log_record.set_target(target);
         log_record.set_event_name(name);
         log_record.set_severity_number(severity);
         log_record.set_severity_text(metadata.level().as_str());
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/logs/logger.rs b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/logs/logger.rs
index a3a4e09ac1..753d00ae82 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/logs/logger.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/logs/logger.rs
@@ -34,14 +34,11 @@ impl opentelemetry::logs::Logger for SdkLogger {
 
         //let mut log_record = record;
         if record.trace_context.is_none() {
-            let trace_context = Context::map_current(|cx| {
-                cx.has_active_span()
-                    .then(|| TraceContext::from(cx.span().span_context()))
+            Context::map_current(|cx| {
+                cx.has_active_span().then(|| {
+                    record.trace_context = Some(TraceContext::from(cx.span().span_context()))
+                })
             });
-
-            if let Some(ref trace_context) = trace_context {
-                record.trace_context = Some(trace_context.clone());
-            }
         }
         if record.observed_timestamp.is_none() {
             record.observed_timestamp = Some(now());