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Agriculture secretary says agency is 'full-bore ahead' on Forest Service reorganization · Best of: Features

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  Agriculture Secretary says agency is full bore ahead on Forest Service reorganization.
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  Written by Matthew Brown. This article is being read by an automated
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  voice generated by Everlet. Billings, Montana, the AP. Agriculture
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  Secretary Brooke Rollins said Thursday that the Trump administration remains full bore
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  ahead, with a sweeping reorganization of the Forest Service and other agencies
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  after a judge blocked the changes last week. The administration wants to
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  move Forest services.
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  Headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, shutter 23 research stations, and
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  close many regional offices and replace the with state offices. It's part
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  of a broader realignment at the Agriculture Department that also would change
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  programs for food and nutrition, rural development, and other services. For now,
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  the plan is stalled under court order. But that's already under appeal,
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  and Rollins made clear Thursday that the administration hasn't given up. We
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  are full bore ahead in the reorganization, Srollin said during a conference
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  call with reporters following an announcement on fertilizer production. We believe in
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  it more today than we ever have. Taking the USDA to our
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  constituents, which is rural America, the Forest Service out West. Administration officials
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  say the reorganization will trim costs and further concentrate resources in western
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  states that are home to nearly ninety percent of national forest lands.
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  Federal employee unions, environmental groups, and local officials, including in California, Maryland,
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  and Washington State, are trying to quash the plan. They say the
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  sheshuffling of employees is a ploy to achieve the administration's goal of
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  deep cuts in the workforce. U.S. District Judge Vince Chabria California sided
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  with those arguments in an October thirteenth order, halting the reorganization while
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  a lawsuit from opponents works its way through the courts. If implemented,
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  the planned reorganization activities will likely put thousands of USDA employees to
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  the choice of relocating far from their current home, often to a
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  different state, or losing their job, Schabrier wrote. He said the administration
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  almost certainly violated congressional restrictions on using money on the reorganization that
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  was intended for other purposes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been
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  eliminating layers of management as part of President Donald Trump's push to
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  slim the federal workforce and make it more efficient. Trump also wants
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  to take away one of the Forest Service's most prominent roles: fighting
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  wildfires and transfer responsibility to the new Federal Wildland Fire Service. Congress
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  so far has blocked that move. With wildfires getting worse in recent
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  decades due to climate change, battling them has consumed a greater share
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  of the Forest Service budget. That's forced officials to look for cost
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  savings elsewhere. It's not clear how much the reorganization will actually save,
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  said Chris Iverson, who spent almost three decades at the Forest Service
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  before retiring from a leadership position during Trump's first term. Yet Iverson
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  said the changes could result in the loss of personnel with extensive
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  experience, including battling wildfires. He added that the elimination of regional offices
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  and creation of state offices could open The
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  door to more influence by governors pushing the interests of the timber,
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  oil and gas and grazing industries. It's just going to be a
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  closer alignment of Forest
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  Service leadership with state government priorities, Iverson said. Governor Spencer Cox in
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  Utah has described the Forest Service reorganization, including a new headquarters in
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  Salt Lake City, as a big win for Utah and the West.
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  GOP lawmakers said it would ensure agency officials get more local input.
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  They administration last month scaled back part of its plan and said
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  41 research facilities across The
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  country that faced possible closure would remain open. Almost two dozen research
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  stations still are slated to close. The Forest Service workforce has been
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  cut about 16 under Trump, from more than 39,000 employees to 33,000,
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  according to government data. During his first term, Trump moved the Bureau
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  of Land Management to Colorado, citing many of the same reasons, including
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  a desire to put top officials closer to the public lands they
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  oversee. The Biden administration reversed course, moving BLM headquarters back to Washington,
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  D.C. After two years. The National Federation of Federal Employees Union said
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  a survey of Forest Service workers showed a large majority opposed the
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  pending reorganization plan, and most were unwilling to relocate.