"The Trump administration says moving the Forest Service headquarters to Utah and shutting down 31 research stations will streamline operations and bring leaders west, where the forests are."

"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 wildfire forecast showing exceptionally high fire risk in both the Southeast and across much of the West over the next three months.

By the end of March, 1.62 million acres had already burned across the country this year —231 percent of the previous 10-year average, the National Interagency Fire Center said in its seasonal forecast released Wednesday. That included the largest wildfire in Nebraska’s history, which last month scorched 640,000 acres and killed an 86-year-old woman who was trying to escape. It is a sign of the challenges facing the federal government’s largest team of wildland firefighters, those in the Forest Service, who already were being integrated with a new U.S. Wildland Fire Service located in the Department of Interior.

“At a time when wildfires are getting worse, and access to public lands is already under strain, the last thing we need is an unnecessary reorganization that creates chaos and confusion for the land managers, researchers and wildland firefighters who help keep our forests healthy now and for future generations,” said Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director at The Wilderness Society."

Marianne Lavelle reports for Inside Climate News April 2, 2026. [2]