A U.S. Forest Service office in Missoula will close as part of President Donald Trump’s push for consolidation.
The restructure stems from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which houses the Forest Service. A department memo says all nine regional offices will be phased out over the next year.
The USDA plans to reorganize into five regional hubs. They will be located in North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana, Colorado and Utah.
USDA Deputy Secretary Alexander Vaden discussed the plan Wednesday in a Senate Committee hearing on Agriculture. Vaden says the department will move more than 2,000 employees out of Washington D.C. to those hubs. He says it will help retain talent who can’t afford to live in the Capitol.
The Forest Service will maintain small centers in Juneau, Alaska and Athens, Georgia. The memo does not clarify what happens to Forest Service workers employed at the regional offices.
