The U.S. Forest Service will relocate its headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City and dismantle its regional office structure in favour of a state-based model, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced overnight. In total, the agency oversees 193 million acres of national forest and grassland across 44 states and 90 per cent of that land sits west of the Mississippi, and the agency employs approximately 35,000 people across 154 national forests, 20 grasslands, and more than 600 ranger districts.
The move is the latest step in a sweeping domestic timber push. Already Forest Service has committed to increasing timber harvests by 25 per cent, targeting 4 billion board feet annually by fiscal year 2028 — up from 2.9 billion board feet cut in 2023. Just eight days ago, the USDA announced US$115.2 million in guaranteed loans to sawmills and wood processing facilities across eight states under its Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program.
“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,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said. “Establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City and streamlining how the Forest Service is organised will position the Chief and operation leaders closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them.”
Under the new model, 15 state directors will assume authority over Forest Service operations within one or more states. Each will hold direct oversight of forest supervisors and will be responsible for relationships with state governments, tribal nations, and partner organisations.
That structure already operates within the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management — a model the Trump administration relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado, during its first term. As a result, all nine existing regional offices will close, with functions shifting to operational service centres in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Athens, Georgia; Fort Collins, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Missoula, Montana; and Placerville, California.
According to Tom Schultz, U.S. Forest Service Chief, the active management belonged on the ground, not in the capital: “Effective stewardship and active management are achieved on the ground, where forests and communities are found — not just behind a desk in the capital,” Schultz said. “This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective and closer to the forests and communities it serves.”
Meanwhile, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the move would deliver faster decisions for ranchers and timber producers: “This isn’t symbolic — it means better, faster decisions on the ground,” Cox said. “Everyone who depends on our public lands, from hikers and campers to ranchers and timber producers, will benefit from this change.”
The agency said research operations will also be consolidated, with multiple stations coming under a single organisation in Fort Collins. Together, the changes will unify research priorities and cut administrative duplication, pushing science more directly into land management decisions.
The Fire and Aviation Management program, however, will keep its existing Geographic Area Coordination Center structure. Field-based firefighters and their positions remain unaffected. The program will keep reporting to the Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. That structure remains in place until wildland fire management is transferred to the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service within the Department of the Interior.
Meanwhile, several facilities will stay on under the new configuration. Juneau, Alaska, becomes a state office; Vallejo, California, converts to a national training centre; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, serves as both a business support service centre and state office. The agency expects to complete the full elimination of regional and station office structures over the coming year. “In the past year, we have returned the Forest Service to the leading forestry and fire management organisation in the world,” Rollins said.
