Tommy Reynolds

You've probably seen headlines this week about the Trump administration "dismantling" the U.S. Forest Service. There's a lot of noise, especially on social media, but let's look at what's actually happening: The reorganization moves USFS headquarters from D.C. to Salt Lake City and restructures from 9 regional offices to 15 state-based ones, while some staff remain in D.C. Governors from both parties, Cox (R-UT) and Polis (D-CO), have praised the move, and SLC is a well-connected city with the talent and infrastructure to support a major federal agency. The structural shift is also less dramatic than it sounds. The USFS already runs a decentralized operation. Going from 9 regional offices to 15 state-based ones is closer to a hybrid regional-state model. The "dismantling" framing all over social media doesn't hold up to scrutiny. That said, there are real concerns worth taking seriously, namely cuts to R&D, and broader budget pressure on an agency that manages 193 million acres of public land. There are still question marks about the implementation and extent of these cuts, but reducing the USFS’s capacity is real cause for concern. We are in one of the most severe drought years in recent memory. Underfunded, understaffed agencies don't operate better; this is not the moment to squeeze USFS capacity. There's also a concern that predates this reorganization entirely: the Forest Service already spends an enormous amount of time on paperwork. NEPA compliance alone can delay active forest management projects by years. Reorganizing the org chart doesn't touch that problem, and any reform effort that doesn't address it is leaving the biggest obstacle on the table. Getting rangers and foresters back out into the field and out from behind their desks is a worthy goal, but the Forest Service is struggling to keep up as it is. Fixing our forest service requires more than just redrawing the org chart; it requires fixing the underlying incentive structure tangling USFS in bureaucracy. Done strategically and with clear goals, a restructuring doesn't have to hurt the agency. Without those reforms though, it won't solve much either.

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