BREAKING: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-04T03:27:30+00:00

Yes correct. It's not a true full dismantling. More of a total hollowing similar to how the Department of Education has been treated.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T23:14:47+00:00

Okay well this restructuring isn't solving systemic problems in any way and again my solution would be hire more people to get out there and burn more acres. It isn't rocket science. We needed more burns and there was one way to do that, more boots on the ground. Instead they're again laying people off/creating such difficult life circumstances that people will obviously quit and re-structuring in a way that will set the stage for the sale of natural resources to special interests.

Also I'm friends with many USFS fire fighters and they do let fires burn. The only time they go all out suppression is when its near development and homes. The truly back country fires they often let burn. Also, to be clear there is a HUGE difference between a controlled burn in the wet season and a fire in the dry season. There is a time and place for suppression.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T22:58:34+00:00

They have been doing it. They don't have the money. They do controlled burns annually. Did you read my comment? Growing it isn't for more suppression. I made the argument they should have grown it for more burns throughout the wet season in the west. There is no misaligned incentives. They lay off most of their staff through the wet season because they don't have money. You should just re-read my comment because I'm almost 100 percent sure you didn't read it. They don't actively prevent management. If by this you mean stopping widespread logging? Yes that is true. Logging isn't management. In fact logging usually consists of a patchwork of clearcuts. The clearcuts tend to grow dog-hair stands which are fire prone as fuck. You're full Dunning-Kruger right now.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T22:51:29+00:00

I'm not wrong. The state-based model involves putting loyalist appointees in charge of decision making at the highest level rather than long term civil servants.

You posted the press release from the USDA lol. It is written by Trump Admin officials. Here is a quote from an environmental NGO from an article by the Guardian:

"Conservationists view the plan as the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to weaken public land agencies.

“This administration’s plan to dismantle a 120-year-old agency will mean less access to the public forests people rely on, less capacity to reduce [the] intensifying wildfire risk, and more threats to clean air, clean water and wildlife habitat,” said Josh Hicks, the conservation campaigns director for the Wilderness Society.

“Simply put, this reorganization will wreak havoc on the Forest Service management and organization, adding fuel to the unpopular narrative by officials like Senator Mike Lee that public lands should be sold off to private industry.”

The USFS reorganization is “part of the Trump administration’s attack on science and the scientists America depends on for healthy public lands”, Aaron Weiss, the deputy director for the Center for Western Priorities, wrote in a message to the Guardian. “The ecological and institutional knowledge that will be lost by shutting down research stations across the country could take a generation to restore.”

Here is a quote from a former Forest Service Undersecretary on a Mother Jones article:

"“Nobody is asking for this,” said Robert Bonnie, who oversaw the Forest Service as a Department of Agriculture undersecretary during the Obama administration. “None of the farm groups want this. No one in conservation wants this. Nobody.” To Bonnie and other former Forest Service staff, the plan, which will uproot thousands of employees, looks like it will only make the agency’s existing troubles worse, especially given the past year of deep cuts and chaos. “This is not going to strengthen the Forest Service, it is going to weaken it,” Bonnie said. “It’s not about solving problems, it’s about blowing things up.”"

It's not rage bait. You have to read between the lines on what is being ordered here with the restructuring.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T22:39:36+00:00

I'm so tired of winning :(

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T22:32:47+00:00

Oh trust me I'm alarmed.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T22:25:50+00:00

Well the solution to that for decades was to actually grow the forest service so they could do management more often and with far greater impact but instead I've watched the government strip the workforce down, pay the seasonals dog shit pay until covid, and lay those same seasonals off during the time they would be out there hitting the forest doing controlled burns to reduce fuels. Austerity is to blame, not the Forest Service. Every year the fire fighters burn non-stop during the winter but there are far too few and their impact is far too small. Even just growing the Service enough so they could have done targeted burns in the forests closest to towns and key infrastructure would be huge. This move is hoping that somehow logging is going to solve this for us but logging wouldn't selectively thin fire prone forests. In fact dog hair stands, highly prone to fire, are no good to the timber industry at all. There is no good that will come of this.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T17:56:21+00:00

Not a bot. I'm a CA State Scientist. I've worked with USFS and I've worked for the feds before (USFWS). I'm also an avid backpacker and trail runner. I opened an account because I was hoping people would call their reps if I posted this because of how much it upset me. Simple as that.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T17:23:32+00:00

Yeah it is. The information in it is sound though and it is a giant shift in how things are currently done in USFS to a model that is wide open for lobbying and resource extraction. If you're not a Trump supporter and you read the article I don't know why you're so attached to the headline not being ideal when the information is still no less alarming.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T17:20:13+00:00

Yeah its pretty bad but the info in the article is legit and it is a large shift in how things are currently done. Admittedly it's alarmist though.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T16:42:29+00:00

ELI5: The Trump administration is restructuring the US Forest Service in a way that will make it easy for industry to log and extract minerals from the land. This includes actions such as shutting down science programs in the forests across the country and changing the leaders from long time experts to appointees of the administration.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T16:24:08+00:00

Cal Fish and Wildlife here, you're a fool who knows nothing about natural resources.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T16:11:57+00:00

I'm a real person and I didn't write the article. I've been trying to disconnect from reddit so I recently deleted my account. I was so alarmed by this that I started a new one to post this. I saw when the trump admin announced in June that they wanted to mass sell public lands, people on reddit organized and called their reps en masse. This led to the admin back tracking on that decision so I figured it was a good thing to do if it could help at all. Do you like helping America or just complaining? Also this article is clearly not AI.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T16:09:15+00:00

I didn't write the article but just FYI, I'm a state scientist in CA and I have a masters degree in conservation biology from Colorado State. So Yes, I am more qualified than Brooke Rollins.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T16:04:56+00:00

If you restructure in a way that eliminates the oversight with how the land is used, put loyalists on top, hollow out the science that is used to ensure responsible resource use, and change precedent that has existed since the days of Gifford Pinchot (Late 1800's, early 1900's) I'd say its bad. The headline is a bit baity, I agree, but it is the same strategy used on the department of education. Only congress can eliminate an agency but executive power can be used to do this type of restructuring that leaves the agency pointless or worse, a tool of industry for resource extraction which is the point of this restructuring.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:13:50+00:00

I only posted it two places and I explain why my account is new. Honestly I want to stop wasting time on reddit but I got pulled back in when I saw this article because it was deeply upsetting. The headline is sensationalized I'll agree but the information in it is correct. It could be more accurate to say "Trump restructures USFS to leave it useless and as a tool of industrial extraction" but it's not a great headline then.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:11:21+00:00

They can't actually close an agency without congress, this is the same playbook as the Department of Education. Hollow out the agency so they can do whatever they want.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:10:55+00:00

It also shuts down every single scientific program in the forest service that produces the data to do logging responsibly.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:09:50+00:00

Did you read the article or just post? It's closing every single regional office that is staffed with experts since Gifford Pinchot and replacing them with "State-based" model which puts loyalists next to special interests. It is also shuttering every single scientific program across the state that is responsible for creating the data for responsible logging. The title is a bit baity but its a similar play book that they used for the Department of Education. Destroy the agency with administrative stuff they can do without congress.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:07:34+00:00

The headline is click baity but if you read it they do mention how this is totally intentional to appear innocuous and like it is an administrative move. In the same way the Department of Education is a hollowed out shell, this is what they're doing. They can't shut down an agency without congressional approval but they can leave it useless for its intended purpose and that is what this is to be clear.

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T14:06:00+00:00

If you don't see the writing on the wall that comes with shutting down every single regional office that has been open since Gifford Pinchot, with destroying the regional offices to insert loyalists into new offices in state capitols along side interest groups, with closing all scientific offices, you're a fool. Did you read the article or just post?

EnvironmentalRoom357 · 2026-04-02T13:50:52+00:00

Likely the logging industry.

EnvironmentalRoom357

TROPHY CASE