MISSOULA — The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service is moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City as part of a sweeping restructuring of the agency, according to a press release from the agency on Tuesday.
The agency said the move is designed to bring leadership closer to the forests and communities it serves.
"President Trump has made it a priority to return common sense to the way our government works. Moving the Forest Service closer to the forests we manage is an essential action that will improve our core mission of managing our forests while saving taxpayer dollars and boosting employee recruitment," Secretary Brooke L. Rollins said in the press release.
The Forest Service will transition to a state-based organizational model. Under the new model, 15 state directors will be distributed throughout the country to oversee operations within one or more states.
State directors will serve as national leaders with primary oversight of forest supervisors, operational priorities, and relationships with states, tribes, and other partners. Each state office will include a small leadership support team responsible for legislative affairs, communications, and intergovernmental coordination.
The agency said this approach is intended to simplify the chain of command, strengthen local partnerships, and give field leaders greater ability to respond to conditions on the ground.
"This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves," Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in the press release.
"This is a big win for Utah and the West. Nearly 90% of Forest Service lands are west of the Mississippi, so putting leadership closer to the lands they manage just makes sense," said Utah Governor Spencer Cox said as part of the press release.
As part of the transition, all regional offices will close. The Forest Service will shift many functions currently housed in regional offices to a network of operational service centers in the following locations:
- Albuquerque, NM
- Athens, GA
- Fort Collins, CO
- Madison, WI
- Missoula, MT
- Placerville, CA
The USDA said locations were selected based on existing workforce and infrastructure presence, operational needs, and proximity to agricultural and natural resource stakeholders.
The restructuring will also drive a review and consolidation of facilities nationwide. Several facilities will be retained to support ongoing mission needs, including a state office in Juneau, Alaska; a national training center in Vallejo, California; and a business support service center and state office in Albuquerque.
The Forest Service said it will also consolidate leadership of its research enterprise. Multiple geographically dispersed research stations will be brought together under a single research organization located in Fort Collins. They said the changes are designed to unify research priorities, accelerate the application of science to management decisions, and reduce administrative duplication.
"Colorado is known for our outdoor spaces and nation-leading research institutions that are strengthening our forests and public lands, so it only makes sense that the U.S. Forest Service would include a location in our great state," said Colorado Governor Jared Polis said in the press release.
The agency’s Fire and Aviation Management program will retain its existing Geographic Area Coordination Center structure. The program will continue reporting to the Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.
The agency said there will be no interruption or change to field-based operational firefighters or their positions. This structure will remain in place until the Forest Service’s wildland fire management operations are unified into the U.S. Wildland Fire Service within the Department of the Interior.
The Forest Service will provide employees and partners with detailed transition guidance as different milestones approach. Throughout the transition, the agency said frontline operations, including active forest management, wildfire response, forest restoration, recreation management, and partnerships, will continue uninterrupted.
