USDA announces next step in agency reorganization

As the next step in the USDA reorganization, Secretary Brook Rollins announceda sweeping restructuring of the U.S. Forest Service. The changes include moving the Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City, transitioning to a state-based leadership model, building a network of Operations Service Centers, and unifying the agency’s research program. 

As part of the restructuring, the Forest Service will move from 10 regional centers to a state-based organizational model at 15 locations overseeing one or more states. As the agency transitions to the state-based model, the Forest Service will shift many functions currently housed in regional offices to a network of operational service centers that will be established in Albuquerque, NM; Athens, GA; Fort Collins, CO; Madison, WI; Missoula, MT; and Placerville, CA. 

The Forest Service is also consolidating and reorganizing its research stations to bring those remaining stations together under a single Forest Service research head, located in Fort Collins, CO. The reorganization proposes closing more than 50 forest research station locations. The announcement did not provide a timeline but did say that the agency would work with employees and partners with detailed transition guidance as different milestones approach.

Also as part of the reorganization, in February, Secretary Rollins announced that USDA would be selling its flagship South Building office in Washington, DC and its Braddock Place facility in Alexandria, VA, which houses Food and Nutrition Service employees. Employees currently stationed at the South Building or Braddock Place would be relocated to other locations in the Capitol Region or across the country by the end of the year.