The U.S. Forest Service Is Consolidating Oversight Amid Staffing Shortages

The U.S. Forest Service is consolidating the oversight of its regional offices, part of “interim” changes that mean fewer staff will oversee larger expanses of land.

In a letter to Hill offices obtained by NOTUS, the agency presented a map that showed its regional oversight had been consolidated into five hubs. The agency cited “significant changes in our workforce during the last eight months,” which is most of the second Trump administration. The agency said those changes included staff leaving, as well as “reassignments.”

“As we await information from USDA on departmental reorganizational efforts, it is necessary for us to adapt how we function in the interim,” Jake Donnay, the legislative affairs director for the Forest Service, said in the letter sent Thursday to the Hill.

“We have developed interim operations to ensure we can safely and effectively deliver our mission, focus on agency priorities, and maintain stability and oversight. Regional foresters in permanent positions will temporarily expand oversight to include additional regions until a permanent structure under the pending reorganization is implemented.”

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Donnay noted that the changes were “operational” and “do not affect our organizational structure or regional office locations. ”

The changes are part of a larger plan from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to reorganize the Department of Agriculture. And they are happening as many Forest Service employees are furloughed due to the government shutdown, and as more than 5,000 employees have taken deferred resignation options in the last year.

In a statement to NOTUS, a Forest Service spokesperson confirmed the changes.

“Until further direction on departmental reorganizational efforts is established by USDA, the Forest Service is taking interim steps to ensure essential executive leadership and oversight is in place,” the statement said.

“The Forest Service is taking steps to continue stable, seamless operations while the future organization is developed,” the statement continued, noting that its senior executive service members’ “roles are being expanded, and portfolios are being redistributed as an interim measure to ensure there is continued support for our priority work.”

“These actions are not a reorganization. All nine Forest Service regions remain in place,” the statement added.