The U.S. Forest Service is cutting 23 facilities across 15 states, saving $8.8 million in annual lease payments and $8 million in deferred maintenance costs.
The agency announced the closures Thursday. The 23 facilities being closed have “little to no staffing,” the agency said. In addition to the site in Anderson, California, where only certain buildings are being shuttered, the 22 other closed Forest Service complexes are located in:
• Huntsville, Alabama
• Chico, California
• Fresno, California
• Hat Creek, California
• Ansonia, Connecticut
• Hamden, Connecticut
• Tallahassee, Florida
• Evanston, Illinois
• Baltimore
• East Lansing, Michigan
• Wellston/Harrietta, Michigan
• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Cortland, New York
• Lakeville, New York
• McArthur, Ohio
• Portland, Oregon
• Long Pond, Pennsylvania
• York, Pennsylvania
• Nacogdoches, Texas
• Princeton, West Virginia
• Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
The Forest Service said on a webpage dedicated to its reorganization that it expects about 200 employees, most of them currently working out of the agency’s office in the District of Columbia, will have to move. The Forest Service announced the relocation of agency headquarters to Salt Lake City earlier this year.
About 95 of those employees currently work at one of the 23 facilities being closed. They will be moved to another agency site within their local commuting area, Forest Service Communications Director Chad Douglas said, according to The Associated Press.
Prior to deciding which of its facilities to ax, the agency examined 64 of its sites, the Forest Service said. It has more than 16,000 facilities nationwide and is party to over 500 space-occupancy or leasing agreements.
Half of all Forest Service facilities are rated in poor condition, and a third of the agency’s office space falls below the 60% occupancy threshold mandated by federal law.
The agency’s deferred maintenance costs exceed $3 billion. Congress appropriated $37 million less toward facility upkeep in fiscal 2026 compared with the year prior, the Forest Service said.
The agency has shed 6,000 workers, approximately 15% of its workforce, over the course of the second Trump administration, according to AP.
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