World’s largest forest research agency faces severe cutback by Trump administration
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The Cutfoot Experimental Forest in Minnesota is near a research facility that could be closed as part of the US Forest Service’s reorganization.Credit: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post/Getty
“Overwhelmed.” “Saddened.” “Crushed.” “Demoralized.” That’s how some former and current scientists at the US Forest Service feel as the agency weighs closing dozens of its research sites. The list includes facilities that support research at woodlands designated as experimental forests, some of which have supported active, longitudinal research for more than a century.
These locations are “irreplaceable. You can’t say, ‘Okay, I lost that one. I’m going to go start another 70-year study,’” says a recently retired forest-service scientist. (They requested anonymity to protect ongoing research collaborations with agency staff.)
As it stands, the forest service’s Research and Development (R&D) branch is the world’s largest forestry-research organization, with roughly 1,000 employees at 77 sites. Its scientific track record includes identifying the exact species of fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats and creating a woodland-fire model used in multiple countries.
These scientists are setting a forest on fire — and studying it with drones