Forest Service Research Closures May Cost More Than Saved

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to shutter 57 of its 77 research facilities across 31 states as part of a sweeping reorganization aimed at cutting costs and streamlining operations. But lease documents obtained by NPR reveal a striking contradiction: many of the facilities targeted for closure cost the government virtually nothing to rent — some as little as $1 a year — while the planned consolidation hub in Fort Collins, Colorado, carries an annual rent of $1 million.

A Reorganization of Historic Scale

On March 31, 2026, the Forest Service announced a major restructuring that would move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, Utah, close all nine regional offices, and consolidate five regional research stations into a single hub in Fort Collins. Three days later, President Donald Trump’s FY2027 budget proposed eliminating all $309 million in Forest Service research funding, allocating $0 for the agency’s scientific work.

Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz defended the plan at an April 16 budget hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, stating the agency is “prioritizing the fundamentals of managing our national forest for their intended purposes and ensuring maximum value to the American taxpayer.”

More than 200 employees work in the facilities slated for closure, according to the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), the federal labor union representing agency workers. The Forest Service has denied that the closures are intended to force workers to quit and has suggested employees would be relocated to Colorado.

The $1 Leases

Internal Forest Service documents reviewed by NPR show that the government already owns most of the facilities it is proposing to close. Of the leased buildings being evaluated for closure, some cost the government less than $1 in rent per year.

In Hilo, Hawaii, the Forest Service signed a 65-year lease in 2002 for a 30,000-acre lot at the University of Hawaii, paying a one-time fee of just $1. The lease is valid through 2067. The site houses the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, which leads critical research on rapid ʻōhiʻa death, a fungal disease that has killed up to 2 million native trees, and develops biocontrol agents for invasive species threatening Hawaii’s unique ecosystems.

In Houghton, Michigan, the Forest Service has leased a five-acre property from Michigan Technological University since 1963, paying a one-time fee of $1 for the original 49-year term, which was extended for another 49 years in 2014. The lease also grants researchers free access to the university’s instruments and laboratories. A second Michigan facility in L’Anse costs just $600 per month for two rooms.

By contrast, the Fort Collins consolidation facility where the agency plans to relocate researchers costs $1 million per year in rent.

“They’re only paying a dollar in rent to the university because they have a great agreement with the university,” said Rachel Riemann, a former Forest Service research scientist who worked with the Forestry Inventory Analysis program in New York. “And yet that one’s on the list for closure.”

Scientists Say They Won’t Move

The reorganization threatens to sever decades-long research partnerships and disrupt hyperlocal scientific work that cannot be conducted remotely, current and former employees say.

Dr. Morgan Grove, a Forest Service scientist who retired in 2025, helped establish a wood recycling facility called Camp Small in Baltimore and launched a 30-year study of white oak tree regeneration at a local arboretum. The saplings planted three years ago cannot be transplanted without disrupting the research.

“So how easy would it be to do that from Denver? Not happening,” Grove said. “Remotely, it’s really hard to provide sufficient support for how to manage a forest.”

A current Forest Service scientist who spoke anonymously told NPR that the research being done is “hyperlocal” and unique to specific landscapes. “Closing these offices is going to result in the loss of irreplaceable data sets, which contain just vital information that has been gathered,” the scientist said.

All four current Forest Service researchers interviewed by NPR said they would quit rather than relocate to Fort Collins. “I’m not moving to Fort Collins,” one researcher said. “The whole point was to do long-term, place-based ecological research.”

Dave Calkin, a former researcher at the Missoula Fire Science Lab who took early retirement in 2025, described the atmosphere as traumatic. “People are leaving, and with that we’re losing massive amounts of institutional knowledge and science capacity that will never come back,” he told KSUT/Mountain West News Bureau.

A Congressional Mandate at Risk

Some of the science at stake is not optional. The Forest Service’s Forestry Inventory Analysis (FIA) program is mandated by Congress to collect data on the condition of U.S. forests. About one-third of FIA staff work at facilities being evaluated for closure. If forced to travel to continue monitoring forests, the cost could exceed $2,000 per person per month in standard federal per diem rates.

“Almost any lease would cost less than being in permanent travel status,” Riemann said.

The Union Challenge

The NFFE argues the reorganization violates a law requiring advance notification and approval by House and Senate appropriations committees before government funds can be reprogrammed. “We had this language specifically put in there on purpose so that they wouldn’t do any kind of reorganization and they’re absolutely going against that,” said Steven Gutierrez, a union representative. The union is currently negotiating with Forest Service leadership.

What’s at Stake

The Forest Service’s Research and Development division is the largest forestry research organization in the world, employing more than 1,000 people across hundreds of facilities. Its scientists study forest health, wildfire behavior, climate change impacts, and urban forestry — work that directly informs the management of 193 million acres of national forest and grassland.

Dr. Paul Hessburg, a senior research ecologist at the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Wenatchee, Washington, has worked in forestry for 40 years. His lab is one of the facilities being evaluated for closure.

“In my laboratory, we own the land outright and we own the buildings outright, so we’re a pretty good deal,” Hessburg said. “It takes an awful lot to manage nearly 200 million acres of national forest system land. If you eliminate the largest [forestry] research organization in the world, it has impacts.”

As the union negotiations continue and Congress weighs whether to intervene, the fate of the world’s preeminent forestry research network hangs in the balance. What was presented as a cost-saving measure may, critics argue, end up costing far more than it saves — in dollars, in scientific capacity, and in the health of America’s public lands.