The USDA Wants to Close Every Forest Service Regional Office with Reorganization Plan

On August 1st, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a staffing and reorganization plan that includes plans to close all nine of the US Forest Service’s regional offices. The USDA is the executive branch department that oversees the US Forest Service, which is responsible for 193 million acres of public land in the United States.

In a memorandum dated July 24th, 2025, Secretary Rollins laid out plans for the larger USDA agency that included major consolidation of offices across the country, while simultaneously reducing the number of USDA employees in the Washington, DC, area by 2,400. Buried in the details of this memorandum are details plans to close all nine US Forest Service regional offices. Affected offices are in Missoula, MT; Lakewood, CO; Albuquerque, NM; Ogden, UT; Vallejo, CA; Portland, OR; Atlanta, GA; Milwaukee, WI; and Juneau, AK. Some state offices and labs will be retained, but these are smaller and less-comprehensive in their scope. Regional office staff coordinate activities between national forests and grasslands, monitor activities on those lands to ensure quality operations, provide guidance for forest plans, and allocate budgets to the forests. It is unclear whether employees in the regional offices will be offered the opportunity to relocate or work from home.

The reorganization plan comes on the heels of mass terminations of at least 3,400 Forest Service employees in the first quarter of this year, along with 15,364 Forest Service employees taking early retirement at the encouragement of the administration. All told, this accounts for a 50 percent reduction in the employees at the United States Forest Service since 2024. Combined with office closures and relocation, the Forest Service faces massive losses in institutional knowledge and efficacy. These actions come at a time when outdoor recreation participation remains at all-time highs while catastrophic flooding and fires threaten our public lands.

Comments regarding the reorganization plan are being accepted until August 26th. You can submit your comments directly to the USDA by emailing them to reorganization@usda.gov. Alternatively, Outdoor Alliance has made it easy for you to make your voice heard by using their form located here. Although not officially connected to the comment period, you can also contact your representatives and let them know how these decisions affect you, your family, state, hometown or your favorite bikepacking route through a national forest.

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