The Trump administration announced plans to relocate the U.S. Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City and eliminate its regional offices, marking a significant restructuring of the agency that oversees vast stretches of federal forestland.
The Agriculture Department framed the shift as a "commonsense approach" to managing the nation's second-largest federal land management agency. Officials have been developing the reorganization strategy since last year.
Environmental groups and scientists have criticized the move as part of a broader effort to weaken federal science operations. Critics characterize the relocation as an attack on scientific institutions and their staff.
The announcement echoes a similar attempt during Trump's first term, when the administration moved the Bureau of Land Management headquarters from Washington to Colorado in 2019. That effort largely collapsed after employees declined to relocate, with nearly 90 percent of the D.C.-based workforce choosing not to move. When President Biden took office, the BLM headquarters returned to the nation's capital.
The Forest Service employs thousands across the country and manages roughly 193 million acres of public land. Its Washington headquarters houses policy-making staff, research divisions, and administrative functions.
Whether the latest relocation succeeds will depend partly on how many employees choose to move versus resign, following the pattern set by the BLM experience. The Salt Lake City location places the agency closer to many of the western forests it manages, though critics worry the move will hamper coordination with other federal agencies and reduce the Forest Service's influence in national policy discussions.
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