Forest Service Announces ‘Sweeping Restructure,’ Relocation of Headquarters to Salt Lake

The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Forest Service is about to undergo a massive agency reorganization. On March 31, the USDA announced that the Forest Service was moving its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, changing its leadership organization model, closing nine regional offices, and consolidating the agency’s research leadership.

The move is part of what the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is calling a “sweeping restructuring,” intended to “simplify the chain of command, strengthen local partnerships, and give field leaders greater ability to respond to conditions on the ground.”

This is a big win for Utah and the West. With nearly 90% of Forest Service lands west of the Mississippi, moving the U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City will put leadership closer to the lands, communities, and challenges they manage.

It also means hundreds of… pic.twitter.com/kZmwdV1PDX

— Governor Cox (@GovCox) March 31, 2026

“President Trump has made it a priority to return common sense to the way our government works,” Secretary Brooke L. Rollins said in the USDA press release, announcing the move. “Moving the Forest Service closer to the forests we manage is an essential action that will improve our core mission of managing our forests while saving taxpayer dollars and boosting employee recruitment.”

The New USFS: New Leadership Model, Shuttered Offices, and Consolidation of Research

The Forest Service headquarters is being moved to Salt Lake City to be closer to the lands it manages, according to the press release. It calls this a “common-sense approach to improve mission delivery.”

This move follows the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colo., in 2019 during the first Trump administration.

“This is about building a Forest Service that is nimble, efficient, effective, and closer to the forests and communities it serves,” Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said. “Effective stewardship and active management are achieved on the ground, where forests and communities are found — not just behind a desk in the capital.”

Along with relocating operations to Salt Lake City, the Forest Service said it will also transition to a “state-based” organizational model. Fifteen state directors will be selected to oversee all Forest Service supervisors, operational priorities, and state, tribal, and partner relationships. Each director will be strategically positioned around the country to manage one or more states.

As part of the restructuring, all Forest Service regional offices around the country will be shuttered. The functions they housed will be shifted into service centers in Albuquerque, N.M.; Athens, Ga.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Madison, Wisc.; Missoula, Mont.; and Placerville, Calif. More service centers may be added later on, the USDA noted.

Finally, the changes also affect Forest Service researchers and scientists. Research leadership will be consolidated into one organization based in Fort Collins, Colo. As stated, this is meant to “unify research priorities, accelerate the application of science to management decisions, and reduce administrative duplication.”

Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox lauded the decision.

“This is a big win for Utah and the West. With nearly 90% of Forest Service lands west of the Mississippi, moving the U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City will put leadership closer to the lands, communities, and challenges they manage,” he wrote on social media.

Colorado’s democratic Governor Jared Polis also voiced support.

“Colorado is known for our outdoor spaces and nation-leading research institutions that are strengthening our forests and public lands, so it only makes sense that the U.S. Forest Service would include a location in our great state,” Polis said.

Some organizations voiced skepticism of the restructuring, which follows significant cuts to the Forest Service.

“The Forest Service should be structured in a way that allows them to steward our public lands effectively and with robust public engagement. This administration has routinely pursued the exact opposite by gutting protections and the public lands management workforce. Despite continued appeals of ‘common sense’ management, it’s far from clear this latest reorganization will get us any closer to that,” said Alex Craven, Sierra Club’s Forest Campaign Manager, in a statement. 

More information about the Forest Service reorganization can be found on its website.