Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Raise Concerns about Forest Service Reorganization

Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Raise Concerns about Forest Service Reorganization April 23, 2026 Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, led over 30 of his colleagues—including Senator Ron Wyden—in raising strong concerns about the reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “We write with strong concerns regarding the announced reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS),” wrote the Senators. “ While we have expressed support for improving the operations of the USFS, we believe the reorganization announced on March 31, 2026, may lead to additional capacity and workforce reductions throughout the agency, harming its ability to deliver on its mission.” “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,” the Senators continued. “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. 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.” Merkley co-led the letter with U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Peter Welch (D-VT). Full text of the letter can be found by clicking here and follows below: Dear Deputy Secretary Vaden: We write with strong concerns regarding the announced reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). While we have expressed support for improving the operations of the USFS, we believe the reorganization announced on March 31, 2026, may lead to additional capacity and workforce reductions throughout the agency, harming its ability to deliver on its mission. 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. 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. Given changes to the USFS in the last year and its ongoing, critical work, it is unclear how the announced reorganization will improve the USFS’s ability to deliver on its statutory responsibilities, including mitigating wildfire risk, executing forest and watershed restoration projects, and increasing trail maintenance. In addition, given the potential for an active and extreme wildfire season the USFS should prioritize preparing for such a wildfire season rather than hastily executing a reorganization that will impact large swaths of its agency. It is likely that this sort of disruption will have lasting impacts on forest management as a whole, and wildfire preparedness and response, specifically. 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. The hundreds of USFS Research & Development (R&D) scientists and experienced staff