The U.S. Forest Service will move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., where it lists its national headquarters address, to Salt Lake City, Utah, and will begin an agency-wide restructuring intended to place leadership closer to field operations and partner communities, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced.
Alongside the headquarters move, the Forest Service will transition to a state-based organizational model that assigns authority and accountability to state-level leadership, supported by shared operational service centers and a unified national research enterprise.
Under the model, 15 state directors will oversee Forest Service operations within one or more states, with oversight of forest supervisors, operational priorities, and relationships with states, tribes, and other partners. Each state office will include a small leadership support team responsible for functions that include legislative affairs, communications, and intergovernmental coordination.
As functions shift away from regional offices, the Forest Service will establish operational service centers in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Athens, Georgia; Fort Collins, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Missoula, Montana; and Placerville, California. The agency said additional service center locations may be added as the transition progresses.
The Forest Service will consolidate leadership of its research enterprise by bringing multiple research stations under a single Forest Service research organization located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The agency said information on retained research facilities and research facility closures is available on its website.
The Fire and Aviation Management program will retain its existing Geographic Area Coordination Center structure, and the agency said there will be no interruption or change to field-based operational firefighters or their positions. The program will continue reporting to the Deputy Chief for Fire and Aviation Management at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, and the agency said the structure will remain in place until wildland fire management operations are unified into the U.S. Wildland Fire Service within the Department of the Interior.
As part of the restructuring, all regional offices will close, while several facilities will be retained for mission needs. The Forest Service said additional phases, including elimination of regional and station office structures and full transition to the state-based model, will be implemented over the coming year.
The agency said retained facilities will include Juneau, Alaska, serving as a state office; Vallejo, California, repurposed as a national training center; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, retained as a business support service center and state office.
