The current effort to restructure the Forest Service by putting more of the agency on the ground, particularly in the West, is generating a range of response in the region.
The center point to the change in focus is the decision announced late last month to move the Forest Service’s headquarters from the District of Columbia to Salt Lake City, Utah.
In making the move, said Brooke Rollins, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, the agency will be “closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them.”
In response, Colorado Democrat Governor Jared Polis remarked in a statement: “More than a third of Colorado is federal land including world class ski resorts like Vail and Breckenridge, and having a closer relationship with our federal partners is important to maintaining those lands and the communities around them.”
But because the move westward has come at the same time that the agency’s workforce as well as its facilities have been reduced by the Trump administration, some experts in the forestry have been openly critical.
“The closure of 57 research stations, some agency partners feel, will threaten critical science that states and other forest managers rely on to learn about wildlife behavior, timber production, and a host of other issues,” notes a report just published by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Altogether, the Forest Service’s more than 30,000 workforce has been reduced by around 5,900 employees in recent months through a combination of buyouts, early retirements, and layoffs.
Some experts in the field have suggested that even more employees may leave simply due to the move of the headquarters. “The logistics of this may be a lot harder implemented than said,” remarked Kelly Norris, a Forest Service official in Wyoming.
As quoted in the NCSL report, Norris added: “We see this as a positive for us, but I do think that this is going to be a real long transition.”
Forest Service staffers, according to the publication Government Executive, will receive financial assistance if they are required to move more than 50 miles away from their current locations because of the headquarters change, with specific assignment letters expected to be sent out between May and June.
The elimination of all nine of the Forest Service’s regional offices in favor of fifteen new state offices has also prompted comment, altering an organizational framework that has been in place since 1908.
April 23, 2026
By Garry Boulard
