USDA to Move Forest Service HQ From D.C. to Salt Lake City and Scrap Regional Offices
The Trump administration has ordered the U.S. Forest Service to move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah, and begin a sweeping reorganization that will eliminate the agency’s long‑standing regional office structure. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Tuesday that the Forest Service will instead adopt a state‑based model with 15 state directors who will oversee forest supervisors, set priorities, and coordinate with state, tribal and local partners, backed by small in‑state teams for communications and legislative and intergovernmental work. Many administrative functions will be shifted to service centers around the country, while frontline operations like wildfire response are expected to remain in place, with the transition rolling out over the next year. USDA frames the move as a cost‑saving decentralization intended to put top leaders closer to the western landscapes where most national forest acreage and wildfire risk lie and to improve hiring and decision‑making. The relocation extends a broader Trump‑era push to move federal land and agriculture agencies out of Washington, following the earlier BLM headquarters move to Colorado and relocation of USDA research units to Kansas City, a strategy critics have previously warned can hollow out agencies by driving out experienced staff.
📌 Key Facts
- USDA is moving the U.S. Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah.
- The plan eliminates all regional offices and replaces them with 15 state directors overseeing operations nationwide.
- Many administrative functions will move to service centers across the country, with changes expected to roll out over the coming year.
- Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the shift is meant to cut costs, decentralize authority, and bring leadership closer to western forests where most federal forest land and wildfire risk are concentrated.
- The move is part of a broader Trump administration effort to relocate federal agencies outside Washington, following prior moves involving the Bureau of Land Management and USDA research agencies.
📊 Relevant Data
Approximately 85% of the 193 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service are located in the western United States, with states like Alaska, California, Idaho, and Montana holding significant portions.
Land Areas Reports | US Forest Service — USDA Forest Service
In 2023, 83.9% of U.S. Forest Service employees were White, compared to 63.9% of the U.S. population, indicating an overrepresentation of White employees in the agency.
Spatially Explicit Assessment of the USDA Forest Service as a Representative Bureaucracy — Forest Science (Oxford Academic)
The 2020 relocation of the Bureau of Land Management headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, resulted in a 169% increase in vacancies from 121 in July 2019 to 326 in March 2020, with significant losses among experienced and diverse employees.
Vacancies persist after BLM relocation drove experienced, diverse employees from agency, GAO finds — Federal News Network
From 2016 to 2025, over 90% of wildfire acres burned in the U.S. occurred in western states, with 2024 seeing nearly 9 million acres burned, exceeding the 40-year average.
The Escalating Destruction of U.S. Wildfires — Visual Capitalist
As of 2017, 313 federally recognized Tribes managed approximately 8 million acres of tribal forests, with many national forests overlapping or adjacent to tribal lands, requiring coordination in management.
Forestry - Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative — Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative
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