Padilla, Senate Democrats Raise Alarm Over U.S. Forest Service Reorganization Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Ahead of the summer and camping seasons, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Senate Wildfire Caucus, joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and 30 other Senators in raising concerns about the reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service  or USFS to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“The USFS is charged with managing the 193 million-acre National Forest System (NFS), performing world-class forestry research, and delivering forestry assistance to improve the management of the more than 800 million acres of public and private forestlands across the country, including over 141 million acres of urban forests in our cities and towns. After the deep cuts over the previous year, a 2025 survey by the Partnership for Public Service found that the USFS was significantly worse at fulfilling stakeholder needs and providing quality service than a year earlier.,” wrote the Senators. “In addition, the sweeping changes being proposed – potentially impacting more than 6,500 employees – combined with the thousands of employees already lost through deferred resignation programs threatens to further erode the agency’s ability to complete its mission.”

“This reorganization also jeopardizes the world-class research the USFS produces to improve management of the NFS, assist public and private forest landowners with insect and disease outbreaks, and spur innovative approaches to managing wildfire… While the USFS indicated within the proposed reorganization that the NFS and R&D mission areas will be reconfigured but largely maintained, the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget proposes eliminating funding for both these functions of the USFS,” continued the Senators. “These conflicting proposals only create confusion and underscore the chaos the reorganization could have on critical research across the country.”

Details: Full text of the letter is available here.