The United States Forest Service will keep its only wood research laboratory in Madison open, with a review of its buildings revealing that 23 research sites will close and 41 will remain open. That is according to the agency’s facilities review, published on 3 September, which examined 64 locations and found more than US$16 million in savings.
“This announcement reflects our commitment to retain the staff our mission requires while responsibly reducing our facilities costs,” Tom Schultz said. The Forest Service chief counts more than $8.8 million in annual lease savings, with the balance in deferred maintenance the agency no longer carries.
Madison is the laboratory the agency credits with glue-laminated beams and oriented strand board, and it has researched wood and its uses for the Forest Service since 1910. The agency employs 80 research scientists and 168 support staff, working with corporations, universities, and state governments.
It credits the laboratory, in whole or in part, with wood preservatives and fibre-based packaging, and lists fire testing of materials and pilot-scale production of nanocellulose among its specialities. Madison will also host the Great Lakes and Midwest state office, covering seven states, and one of the agency’s six operations service centres. Regional office shifts in Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Portland will proceed as announced, with those employees moving to local facilities.
The agency has also picked Madison for the Great Lakes and Midwest state office, covering seven states, and one of its six operations service centres. The Forest Service will proceed with the regional office shifts in Atlanta, Milwaukee, and Portland, with those employees continuing at local facilities.
In March, the agency retained 20 research and development facilities, Madison among them, whilst also opening a new investigation to evaluate the viability of 57 more centres. It has now retained Bozeman, Burlington, Anchorage, and Juneau, all four of them named among the centres on the chopping block.
Chad Douglas, the agency’s communications director, counts 95 employees at the closing sites, each moving to another facility inside their commuting area. The agency kept those 41 open after local officials and members of Congress raised concerns about the reorganisation.
“We’re not closing any ongoing science activities. We’re not closing any of the experimental forests that are important to our researchers,” Chris French said. The associate chief named getting facilities costs under control as the agency’s primary goal.
More than 16,000 facilities and 500 leases sit on the agency’s books, half of them rated in poor condition. Deferred maintenance across the estate has reached $3 billion, with facilities funding for the 2026 financial year cut by $37 million. A third of its office space falls below the 60 per cent utilisation standard set by the USE IT Act.
It comes as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins expects the move from Washington to Salt Lake City to be complete by next northern summer. The Forest Service employs 30,000 people and expects fewer than 200 of them to relocate, most from the Washington office.
Forest Service staff are still evaluating National Forest System buildings and other operations across the agency. The agency says it will produce a long-term facilities strategy from that review, and it has given no date for completion.
