America's national forests belong to all of us. They are where families camp, hunters pursue game, ranchers graze livestock, and hikers explore some of the most breathtaking landscapes on earth. The US Forest Service exists to protect these 193 million acres — land roughly the size of Texas — for every American, in every generation.

The Trump administration has announced a sweeping restructuring of the Forest Service that puts all of that at risk. Every regional office across the country will close. The agency's headquarters will be uprooted from Washington DC and moved to Salt Lake City. Fifty-seven research facilities will be consolidated into a single site. And the workers who have spent careers managing these lands — fighting fires, maintaining trails, protecting watersheds — are being told to relocate or walk away.

These workers live and work in the rural communities that surround the forests they protect. They know the terrain, the ecosystems, and the risks. The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents 20,000 Forest Service workers, has put it plainly: "For many employees, it feels like relocate or resign." That experience — built over decades — cannot be replaced overnight, and there is no guarantee workers who do relocate will even have a job waiting for them on the other end.

The federation also says this restructuring is illegal. The fiscal year 2026 appropriations law explicitly prohibits using agency funds to relocate offices or reorganize programs. Congress has so far said nothing.

Meanwhile, the damage is already showing. Wildfire mitigation work dropped 38% in 2025. Trail maintenance hit its lowest level in 15 years. The Forest Service has already lost more than a quarter of its full-time workforce — including nearly 1,400 employees certified to fight wildfires.

This is not reform. It is the systematic dismantling of an agency that protects land that belongs to the American people — and a workforce that has dedicated their careers to it. We are calling on Congress to enforce the law, halt this restructuring, and protect the future of America's public lands and the people who care for them.