Forest Service Reorganization

May 6, 2026

On March 31, 2026, USDA announced its plan to relocate the employees of the US Forest Service. In the announcement, the Department outlined that the headquarters will move from the Yates Building on the National Mall in Washington, DC to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Administration outlined that this move is intended to move Forest Service leadership closer to the people and forests it serves. The new organizational plan includes 15 state directors who will oversee Forest Service operations in one or more states. This structure will replace the regional model previously used by the Service.

During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on April 22, 2026, US Senator Martin Heinrich
questioned Secretary Rollins on the planned reorganization. Senator Heinrich asked about the cost of the reorganization
and the Secretary responded that she did not have the numbers available to her but would follow up. Senator Heinrich also outlined that when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was moved to Colorado that 87% of the workforce chose not to relocate.

BLM is not the only agency that has been relocated and seen a drastic decrease in the number of staff. In 2019, the first Trump Administration relocated the Economic Research  Service (ERS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to Kansas City, Missouri. According to a GAO report, the move resulted in a  dramatic decline in productivity for both agencies, including missed reporting deadlines and significant delays in processing grants. The reason was clear: the loss of experienced staff. Within two years, the agencies’ workforces were almost entirely new, losing decades of critical expertise.

As the West heads into a summer season with little snow pack, it is reasonable to be concerned about the ability of the Forest Service to respond to wildfires in a timely fashion and with adequate resources in the midst of a massive reorganization.