Why It Matters
The U.S. Forest Service oversees more than 9 million acres of national forests in Wyoming. Staff reductions and agency reorganization under the Department of Government Efficiency have left district offices understaffed and created uncertainty about the management of public lands. The agency announced a major restructuring that will relocate headquarters, consolidate regional offices, and merge research stations.
What Happened
On the Monday after Easter, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins sent an agency-wide email with the message “Christ is Risen” and Easter greetings to Forest Service employees. The following day, staff received notice of a significant reorganization. The restructuring will move headquarters to Salt Lake City, replace nine regional offices with state-based offices, and consolidate research stations into a single Colorado-based organization.
The changes follow job cuts initiated under the Department of Government Efficiency program launched in January 2025. The Shoshone National Forest’s Washakie District office in Lander temporarily closed in February after staff reductions left insufficient personnel to operate.
By the Numbers
The Forest Service manages more than 9 million acres in Wyoming. Nearly 50 percent of Wyoming’s land is federally managed. The agency oversees eight national forests in the state. Hundreds of Washington-based employees will be affected by the headquarters relocation.
What Employees Are Saying
A Wyoming-based Forest Service employee who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Easter email was inappropriate for a federal agency bound by separation of church and state principles. The employee expressed concern about the impact on colleagues of Jewish, Muslim, or atheist beliefs.
The same employee said the reorganization announcement lacked consideration of its impact on operations. “These announcements are coming out without any real thought behind the impact that they will have,” the employee said. The staffer warned that institutional knowledge will be lost as career employees leave the agency.
Bill Lee, who retired from the Forest Service in 2024 after four decades of summer seasonal work, said some areas of the agency were overstaffed and needed reform. But he said administrators “took a shotgun instead of a scalpel” in making cuts.
Zoom Out
The Department of Government Efficiency, created by executive order on the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term, has directed funding freezes, program eliminations, and layoffs across multiple federal agencies. In Wyoming, the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service have all been affected by the changes.
Federal agencies have declined to share data on total job losses. Anecdotal reports indicate several district offices in Wyoming’s national forests have experienced significant staff reductions, creating backlogs in maintenance projects.
What’s Next
The Forest Service reorganization will proceed with the headquarters move to Salt Lake City and the consolidation of regional offices and research stations. Retired staff members have volunteered to fill gaps left by departures, including front-desk coverage at the Lander office and maintenance work on forest lands. An internal federal report that surfaced in December identified operational concerns, though details were not disclosed.