Congress must act to stop Trump’s illegal plan to destroy the US Forest Service

United States public lands will “pay the price” of Trump’s drive to restructure the agency that oversees them, union leaders have warned. They accuse the regime of forcing workers to decide whether to relocate or resign. All regional offices of the US Forest Service, which manages 193 million acres of land – roughly the size of Texas – are set to close as part of an overhaul launched by the regime on March 31. The service has already shed hundreds of staff members since Trump returned to power last year. “The Republican Congress is allowing the White House to break the law and violate the constitution, without so much as a peep from our big, brave, so-called freedom-seeking Republicans,” said Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), which represents 20,000 workers at the service. “They won’t even uphold their own oaths to support and defend the constitution from tyranny.” The restructuring includes a move to relocate the agency’s headquarters from Washington DC to Salt Lake City, Utah, and consolidates 57 research facilities into a single site in Colorado. It also closes all regional offices across the country, replacing them with a new system led by just 15 of Trump’s appointed “state directors.” During Trump’s second term, the agency has already faced significant cuts and staffing losses. The US Forest Service attempted to fire 3,400 probationary employees in February 2025, most of whom were reinstated after a court decision temporarily blocked the firings. Only a few dozen workers were ultimately fired, but hundreds more left the agency through early retirements or resignation buyouts. In total, the agency lost more than a quarter of its full-time workforce, including as many as 1,400 wildfire-certified employees. We cannot allow this gutting of the US Forest Service to continue. Our public lands, our firefighters, and our future are on the line.