NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE REORGANIZED
The Trump Administration has decided to reorganize the National Forest Service and move the headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City. Not only will the headquarters move, but all 10 regional offices of the National Forest Service are being closed. This affects thousands of employees and ends ongoing forest management research decades in the making.
Regional offices allowed feedback from National Forest users and regional conservation efforts like watershed health. The administration’s head of the Forest Service is Tom Schultz, a former vice-president of a large lumber processing company. Utah has already signed into law a state-federal partnership in controlling its forest lands and has in place grants and loans for more commercial use of timber. This move is an obvious threat to the former scientific-based forest management. The National Forest Service manages over 193 million acres, which includes 20 national grasslands.
Earth Steward Action: Contact Congress to keep forest lands protected.