The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to close its Pacific Northwest headquarters and move work from its Portland research station to Colorado.
It’s a move a Trump administration memo said will make the agency more effective and less bureaucratic. But timber groups say the change could slow logging on federal lands, just as the administration promises to ramp up logging. State foresters say it could heighten fire risks. Conservationists and outdoor recreation advocates worry it’s one more step toward what they see as the dismantling of the entire Forest Service.
Members of the public are running out of time to weigh in on the proposed move, which is part of a broader reorganization outlined by the Trump administration earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which manages the Forest Service, says people can submit their thoughts on the plan by emailing reorganization@usda.gov through Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Staff at the Pacific Northwest Forest Service headquarters in Portland oversee 24 million acres of 16 national forests in Oregon and Washington. The 100-year-old research station leads scientific studies on wildfires, watersheds, forest ecology and natural resources, which become the backbone of the Forest Service’s management decisions in the region.
Many groups that care about and regularly use federal lands in Oregon and Washington — whether for recreation, conservation, logging or cattle grazing — are concerned that losing regional staff will drain the Forest Service of local expertise and debilitate its public services. The USDA has already shed more than 15,000 employees this year as part of President Donald Trump’s push to shrink the government.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins outlined the plan in a brief memo in July. She called for the USDA to consolidate its nine regional offices into five newly designated hubs in Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina. Her plan would also consolidate the Forest Service’s seven research stations into one in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Rollins said the change is intended to bring the agency “closer to its customers,” but the hub locations are far from areas with the most Forest Service land.
Rollins’ memo was light on details. It did not say whether the Forest Service will relocate its regional staff or terminate their positions. It’s also not clear how the Forest Service chain of command might change, like if Oregon and Washington’s national forests will continue to be managed by a regional forester — or where that forester would be located.
The changes in the works at the Forest Service are part of a highly unusual process for an administrative overhaul. According to a congressional analysis issued earlier this year in response to other Trump administration moves, internal reorganization of this magnitude typically needs to be authorized by Congress through statute.
The USDA didn’t seek congressional approval before announcing its plans. Senators from both political parties grilled USDA leaders about the decision during a committee hearing in July. Only then did Rollins publish her memo and ask for public input by email.
Oregon state forestry staff say the proposed change could put more administrative burden on the state.
“The loss of a cohesive leadership structure would diminish the responsiveness required to increase timber production and reduce wildfire risk, ultimately forcing the state to expend additional resources to coordinate with 11 separate forest units,” Oregon state forestry and agriculture staff wrote in a letter to Rollins.
