Sadly we will be losing our current source of access to E&E News, and my favorite reporter, Marc Heller. Hopefully someone else can help out. I’ve tried the “social justice” argument for Politico Pro, but no dice. They even raised prices so FSEEE couldn’t afford it, and many thanks to them for their help in the past.
Personally there’s too much grandstanding at Congressional hearings for me (though written testimony can be interesting), but Marc has a story on it with helpful info.
Employees will learn more about their futures with the agency soon. In a memo to all Forest Service employees Wednesday, Schultz said lateral reassignments and management-directed reassignments for senior non-unionized employees at the GS-14 and GS-15 pay grades will begin this week. That’s in addition to procedures announced in June for other employees.
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Congress hasn’t specifically authorized the reorganization. Democrats pressed Schultz on that point, citing provisions in appropriations law that prohibit such moves without the approval of the Appropriations committees.
Schultz echoed the official position of the Agriculture Department — which oversees the forest agency — that the administration doesn’t need congressional permission and need only inform the committees. But moving wildfire management to Interior does require lawmakers’ approval, officials have said, and Congress has yet to give it.Schultz told POLITICO’s E&E News he expects to contract out a congressionally mandated feasibility study on the proposal to relocate wildfire management in the
coming weeks.
I would almost bet that many key FS folks don’t want the move (likely the Undersec does), and while last I heard the turnaround for the study was very tight, I’m thinking Congress will have other things on its mind by the fall.
He pushed back against an assertion by Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) that last week’s closure of the 1.1-million-acre Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in her home state was tied to staffing shortages and to wildfires burning in the region.
“Does the fact that Minnesota lost over 100 Forest Service staff since the start of this administration have anything to do with the wilderness area’s closure?” Craig said, adding that a similar closure in 2021 came as dry conditions and high fire risk were stretching firefighters and other employees.
“No, it does not,” Schultz said. “That’s strange,” Craig said, noting the history. “As far as I can tell the difference is that the Forest Service has lost 6,000 staff since 2024, including more than 100 employees in Minnesota.”
There is quite a bit of that going around, talking about “losing 6000” without mentioning the recent “gaining 6000”. If I were on Craig’s staff, I’d have the opposite prepared as well, “you didn’t shut the Wilderness down when you should have because you lost all the people who make good judgments.”
While Schultz acknowledged that reshuffling offices and closing some research facilities is disruptive to affected communities — he likened it to military base realignments and closures — the chief said the moves will save the government money in the long run.
Shrinking the Forest Service’s footprint in its Sidney R. Yates headquarters building in Washington alone could save $60 million over a decade, Schultz said. The agency will occupy just one floor in the building after the Forest Service headquarters moves to Salt Lake City, he said.
Reorganizing the Forest Service also isn’t a new idea, Schultz told the panel, citing internal discussions in 2007. “Many of the things we’re looking at are not new.”
Thanks to Marc, we also hear from the other side:
As Schultz weathered the criticism, his agency continues to confront a worsening wildfire season. Fires have burned nearly 3.9 million acres this year through Wednesday, or nearly a million more than a year ago, according to the National Interagency Fire Service.
Two Forest Service firefighters died in fire operations in Colorado in June, along with one from the Interior Department’s Wildland Fire Service.
Schultz said the Forest Service hired 11,800 seasonal firefighters for this year — 500 more than its initial goal — and has around 28,000 total employees available for fire-related duty when “red-carded” staff qualified for such work are included.The NIFC recently increased the national wildfire preparedness level to its highest category on a scale of five. Schultz said the Forest Service is operating on a “full
suppression” strategy for all fires. While Democrats zeroed in on the reorganization’s potential disruptions, Republicans on the panel applauded Schultz for meeting firefighter hiring goals, refocusing the Forest Service and working to boost timber sales and “That’s all great news for this country,” said Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), whose district includes the Allegheny National Forest.
Schultz said the agency is well on its way to its annual timber harvest goal of 3.2 billion board feet, which would exceed last year’s and make progress toward President Donald Trump’s directive to boost the nation’s production.
“Much like agriculture, forestry depends on having reliable domestic markets,” said Rep. Jim Baird (R-Ind.).
But national forests provide less than 6 percent of the country’s saw log production, Schultz said, meaning the great majority of lumber comes from privately owned land. Forest Service efforts like wood innovation grants, begun during the Obama administration, help foster expansion in private industry, he said, adding that this year the Forest Service has made as much as $100 million in related grants.“The issue is not unique to any one part of the country,” said Schultz, who came to the Forest Service last year from the Idaho Forest Group, a timber company.
“When I talk about the biggest threat to forests and the profession of forestry, it’s lack of markets,” Schultz said. “If landowners don’t have markets for their products, they will convert their lands to some other use.”