Water restrictions tighten across West as drought concerns grow
Communities across the West are facing a dangerously dry summer as record heat melts snow, threatens drinking water and increases the risk of wildfires.
- The U.S. Forest Service is moving its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City.
- Officials say the move will bring leadership closer to the Western region the agency administers and improve its mission.
- The reorganization also plans to relocate approximately 260 positions to Utah and create 15 state directorships.
- The Sierra Club expressed skepticism about the move and questioned whether it would lead to more effective land management.
The U.S. Forest Service is moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City, a move the USDA says is a “fundamental reorganization” of the agency.
The USDA announced March 31 that the move from the agency’s current location in Washington, D.C., to Utah’s capital city is part of a broader strategy to bring the Forest Service closer to western states, which make up the majority of the country’s 193 million-acre forest system.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement that the move will improve the Forest Service’s mission of managing forests, save taxpayers money and facilitate staff recruitment.
“Establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City and streamlining the way the Forest Service is organized will put chiefs and operational leaders closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them,” Rollins said.
“This includes supporting timber producers across the country, including the Southeast, by prioritizing regional offices and promoting policies that increase timber production and lower costs for consumers,” Rollins added.
The Forest Service’s move comes after the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters moved to Grand Junction, Colorado in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term, resulting in the majority of its employees leaving the Forest Service and leaving only the BLM back in Washington. BLM manages public lands in several Western states and conducts activities such as oil and gas and agricultural leasing.
Forest Service jobs also face relocation
Approximately 260 headquarters jobs will be relocated to Utah, while 130 will remain in Washington, the Forest Service said. Additional steps in the restructuring are expected to take place over the next year, including the formal elimination of local bureau and station office structures and a complete transition to a state-based model.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox praised the Forest Service’s move and thanked Mr. Trump, Mr. Rollins, Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Baden, and Forest Service Secretary Tom Schultz.
“This is a huge win for Utah and the West. With nearly 90% of the Forest Service’s lands west of the Mississippi River, moving the U.S. Forest Service’s headquarters to Salt Lake City will bring leadership closer to the lands, communities, and challenges they manage,” the Republican governor said in a March 31 post to X. “It also means hundreds of jobs coming to Utah and better and faster decision-making on the ground for those who depend on our public lands, from ranchers and timber producers to families who work and recreate on them.” ”
As part of its reorganization, the Forest Service announced it will create 15 state secretaries to oversee its operations, according to the Department of Agriculture. Each state office would include a small leadership support team responsible for functions such as legislative affairs, communications, and intergovernmental coordination.
“This approach is intended to simplify the chain of command, strengthen local coordination, and give field leaders more ability to respond to conditions on the ground,” the USDA said.
The Forest Service will also begin moving to a “state-based organizational model” to bring authority closer to the field, a goal the administration has emphasized since the beginning of the second Trump administration, according to the USDA.
In addition, an “operational service center” will be established in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Athens, Georgia. Fort Collins, Colorado. Madison, Wisconsin. Missoula, Montana. and Placerville, California. USDA said additional service center locations may be added as the transition progresses.
The Forest Service said survey operations would also be integrated as the Forest Service had previously stated. Research facilities currently located in multiple regions will be placed under the jurisdiction of a central research organization based in Fort Collins, the agency said.
The Forest Service announced that the move to Salt Lake City will be completed by summer 2027.
Sierra Club questions eradication at Forest Service headquarters
A major environmental group is questioning the Forest Service’s pending relocation.
The Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest conservation group, said in a March 31 statement that it was skeptical of the USDA’s move.
“The Forest Service should be organized in a way that allows for effective management of public lands and that allows for active public involvement. This administration has routinely pursued the exact opposite: watering down the conservation and public land management workforce,” said Alex Craven, forest campaigns manager at the Sierra Club. “Despite our continued advocacy for ‘common sense’ management, it is not at all clear whether this reorganization will bring us any closer to that.”
