As part of its sweeping reorganization plans, the Agriculture Department is telling at least some federal employees they have until the end of the month to decide whether they will pick up and relocate — or otherwise resign from their jobs.

USDA has been embarking on reorganization plans that involve relocating more than half of its D.C.-area workforce across the country by the end of the summer.

The Forest Service’s chief says the agency’s decisionmaking "has gravitated away from local forests" as the agency has grown in size.

A proposed federal logging project in the forests bordering Yellowstone National Park is drawing growing concern from local residents, business owners and conservation advocates who fear it could have lasting impacts on wildlife habitat, recreation and tourism in one of Montana’s most iconic landscapes. The U.S. Forest Service is using emergency authority to speed the […]

As bad as things got in Los Angeles in January 2025, when 31 people died and more than 16,000 buildings were destroyed by wildfires roaring into residential neighborhoods, many wildland firefighters look back on the rest of last year as a dodged bullet. Across the nation, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which […]

Work to reduce excess flammable vegetation in forests warded off the release of 2.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, averted nearly 60 premature deaths and avoided $2.8 billion in damages in the Western U.S., according to a new study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published May 7 in the journal Science, also […]

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency cut 1,753 land management jobs last year, or 26% of the jobs managing 24 million public acres.

Sweeping changes underway at the federal agency tasked with protecting the nation’s forests could result in the loss of more than a century of critical historical documents, conservationists warn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced a major restructuring at the end of March that includes closing all 10 regional offices. Those offices house […]

More than half of USDA employees who received relocation notices under the first Trump administration left the agency rather than opt to move.

The Forest Service's chief says the agency isn't looking to cut its workforce. Thousands of employees left last year by taking voluntary separation incentives.

Despite similar risks when working on either uncontrolled fires or prescribed burns, federal wildland firefighters currently earn hazard pay only for wildfires.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared clueless Monday about the closures of forest research facilities she directed.

During a press conference at Michigan State University, a reporter asked Rollins whether the U.S. Forest Service offices would close in the state, as part of a so-called “common sense” restructuring that would result in the mass closure of 57 regional offices across the…

Scientists say their work on fires and climate change could be lost as the agency moves its headquarters to Utah from Washington and shuts 57 research stations.

The headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service will move from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday, a move the agency described as a “common-sense approach to improve mission delivery.” Noting that the lands, partners and operational challenges it serves are overwhelmingly in the West, the agency said in […]

In announcing one of the largest reorganizations in the 120-year history of the U.S. Forest Service, the Trump administration declared that there would be “no interruption or change” to the agency’s firefighting force. But critics say the upheaval comes at the worst possible time—with the agency’s ranks already depleted and demoralized, and a new federal […]

Under this reorganization, the Forest Service will close regional offices and relocate that work to six hubs across the country.

U.S. Forest Service headquarters will move from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday, a move the agency described as a “common-sense approach to improve mission delivery.”

Each strip of wood in Richard Silliboy’s hands started as a year of an ash tree’s life. Silliboy, 79, is a member of the Mi’kmaq tribe and a master basketmaker. His blue eyes are kind and frequently crinkle into a smile, and his hands are constantly busy as he talks. In his workshop in Littleton, […]

PATAGONIA, Ariz.—The U.S. Forest Service on March 5 announced it plans to soon approve the nation’s first critical minerals mine, South32’s Hermosa project, when it released the final environmental impact statement, which was permitted under a streamlined process. The federal government called it “a strategic investment in America’s energy future” that “directly supports U.S. energy […]

From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. A decades-old U.S. Forest Service rule that’s been used to justify logging to supposedly reduce wildfire risk has been deemed unlawful by a federal […]

Secretary Brooke Rollins said more than 70% of seats in the South Building remain unoccupied on any given day and the building has fallen into disrepair.

"You need people who understand the authorities and legal mechanisms they can use to partner with tribes to the mutual benefit of both," Anna Maria Ortiz said.

The Wildland Fire Service also stops short of folding in wildland fire personnel or programs from the USDA’s Forest Service.