This morning, USDA Secretary Rollins announced a major reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and restructuring of the U.S. Forest Service.

The Press Release can be found here

.The Secretarial Memorandum can be found here.    Secretary Memorandum: SM 1078-015 sm-1078-015

Here are some key takeaways (USDA-wide, not just the Forest Service):

• USDA currently has about 4,600 employees in the Washington, D.C. area.  That will be reduced to 2,000.  Employees will be relocated to new Hubs or the field.
• USDA’s five Hubs will be: Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah
• USDA will vacate certain office spaces in Washington, D.C. and will revisit (but retain) “the utilization and functions in the USDA…Yates Building…” which has been the permanent home of the Forest Service since the 1990s.
• This is the first step in a multi-step, multi-month process of reorganization and restructuring to reduce the size and costs of the USDA workforce.  As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation Department-wide.

 

What does this mean for the Forest Service?

There will be more information and announcements in the coming weeks and months.  Here’s what we know from the Secretarial Memo:

• The Forest Service will phase out the nine Regional Offices over the next year.  Implementation of the Regional Office phase out will consider the current fire season.
• While not stated in the Memo, we expect current Regional staff to be reassigned or relocated to the Hubs or individual forests.
• It’s our intel that Regional Foresters will also take on larger geographic and administrative responsibilities.
• Note: None of the Hubs are in AFRC’s service area and have little correlation to the National Forest System land base.
• The Forest Service will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau, Alaska and an eastern service center in Athens, Georgia.
• The current stand-alone Research Stations will be consolidated into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado.
• The Forest Service will retain the Fire Sciences Lab and Forest Products Lab.

 

We’ll continue to gather and share more information about these significant structural changes to USDA and the Forest Service.  We are already in touch with key agency leaders to better understand implications for the Forest Service, our industry, and our work.  Change is disruptive.  AFRC will continue to strategize and adapt accordingly to maximize our advocacy and effectiveness for our members under this new structure.  One thing is clear: the restructuring underscores the power and importance of AFRC’s model of having a presence, relationships, and involvement at the local and national forest level.

 

Sincerely,

 

Travis Joseph

President/CEO

American Forest Resource Council

(Washington, D.C., July 24, 2025) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins today announced the reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), refocusing its core operations to better align with its founding mission of supporting American farming, ranching, and forestry.

Over the last four years, USDA’s workforce grew by 8%, and employees’ salaries increased by 14.5% – including hiring thousands of employees with no sustainable way to pay them. This all occurred without any tangible increase in service to USDA’s core constituencies across the agricultural sector. USDA’s footprint in the National Capital Region (NCR) is underutilized and redundant, plagued by rampant overspending and decades of mismanagement and costly deferred maintenance. President Trump has made it clear government needs to be scrutinized, and after this thorough review of USDA, the results show a bloated, expensive, and unsustainable organization.

To be clear, all critical functions of the Department will continue uninterrupted. For example, we are at the height of fire season, and to date, have not only exceeded hiring goals, but have preserved the ability to continue to hire. Earlier this year, Secretary Rollins issued a Secretarial Memorandum exempting National Security and Public Safety positions from the federal hiring freeze. These 52 position classifications carry out functions that are critical to the safety and security of the American people, our national forests, and the inspection and safety of the Nation’s agriculture and food supply system. These positions will not be eliminated. However, employees may be subject to relocation.

“American agriculture feeds, clothes, and fuels this nation and the world, and it is long past time the Department better serve the great and patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers we are mandated to support. President Trump was elected to make real change in Washington, and we are doing just that by moving our key services outside the beltway and into great American cities across the country,” said Secretary Rollins. “We will do so through a transparent and common-sense process that preserves USDA’s critical health and public safety services the American public relies on. We will do right by the great American people who we serve and with respect to the thousands of hardworking USDA employees who so nobly serve their country.”

The reorganization consists of four pillars:

• Ensure the size of USDA’s workforce aligns with available financial resources and agricultural priorities
• Bring USDA closer to its customers
• Eliminate management layers and bureaucracy
• Consolidate redundant support functions

To bring USDA closer to the people it serves while also providing a more affordable cost of living for USDA employees, USDA has developed a phased plan to relocate much of its Agency headquarters and NCR staff out of the Washington, D.C. area to five hub locations. The Department currently has approximately 4,600 employees within the National Capital Region (NCR). This Region has one of the highest costs of living in the country, with a federal salary locality rate of 33.94%. In selecting its hub locations, USDA considered where existing concentrations of USDA employees are located and factored in the cost of living. Washington, D.C. will still hold functions for every mission area of USDA at the conclusion of this reorganization, but USDA expects no more than 2,000 employees will remain in the NCR.

USDA will vacate and return to the General Services Administration the South Building, Braddock Place, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, and revisit utilization and functions in the USDA Whitten Building, Yates Building, and the National Agricultural Library. The George Washington Carver Center will also be utilized until space optimization activities are completed. These buildings have a backlog of costly deferred maintenance and currently are occupied below the minimum set by law. For example, the South Building has approximately $1.3 billion in deferred maintenance and has an average daily occupancy of less than 1,900 individuals for a building that can house over 6,000 employees.

USDA’s five hub locations and current Federal locality rates are:

1. Raleigh, North Carolina (22.24%)
2. Kansas City, Missouri (18.97%)
3. Indianapolis, Indiana (18.15%)
4. Fort Collins, Colorado (30.52%)
5. Salt Lake City, Utah (17.06%)

View the Secretary Memorandum (PDF, 2.6 MB)

This is only the first phase of a multi-month process. Over the next month and where applicable, USDA senior leadership will notify offices with more information on relocation to one of the regional hubs.

To make certain USDA can afford its workforce, this reorganization is another step of the Department’s process of reducing its workforce. Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool. As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.

Dan Waugh – Public Lands

501 E. Baybrook Ct

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Dwaugh@alscott.com

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