1. United States
2. Vt.
3. Letter

Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz appeared before the House Appropriations Committee this week and made it clear the agency is moving forward with its full reorganization (headquarters to Salt Lake City, 57 of 77 research stations closed, all nine regional offices shut down) with or without Congressional approval. Section 716 of the appropriations law says you can’t create any new organizational entity with five or more employees without committee approval. The administration is creating 15 new state director offices. Every single one triggers that provision. There’s also a standstill clause. During the required 30-day notification period, the agency can’t take any action to begin implementation and can’t make any public announcement “in any form.” Congress passed a spending bill with Section 421, which says none of the Forest Service’s funds can be moved around without advance approval from appropriations committees. USDA lawyers wrote an internal memo declaring both laws unconstitutional. They didn’t go to court. They just decided the laws don’t apply to them. What will you do to protect our national forests from this devastatingly destructive dismantling? Please make noise, sue, do whatever’s necessary!