The U.S. Forest Service announced Thursday that it will shut down 23 research and development facilities across the country, part of a broader reorganization aimed at cutting costs — though three Montana locations in Missoula, Hungry Horse, and Bozeman will remain open, the Missoula Current reported.
What’s Being Closed and Why
The agency expects to save roughly $16 million through the closures, which span 15 states. USFS Chief Tom Schultz cited $8.8 million in annual lease savings and $8 million in deferred maintenance reductions as the primary financial drivers. Schultz has signaled that additional facility closures are planned.
The cuts are tied in part to the USE IT Act, passed during the final weeks of the Biden administration, which requires federal agencies to develop downsizing plans when they use less than 60% of their building space. The Forest Service has acknowledged that roughly one-third of its office space falls below that utilization threshold.
The agency currently holds more than 500 leases and space-occupancy agreements and owns more than 16,000 facilities. Half of those facilities are rated in poor condition, and deferred maintenance exceeds available funding by more than $3 billion.
Montana’s Position in the Reorganization
Montana’s three surviving facilities cleared the bar because they serve functions the agency deemed essential — including state offices, service centers, National Forest System operational space, or roles within the experimental forest network. The Missoula facility specifically remains open as an operations service center. Sen. Steve Daines has previously toured the USFS technology and development center in Missoula.
Despite the Montana sites remaining open, the state faces a significant leadership gap. No state director has been assigned in Montana, and the announcement made no mention of the Montana state office location in Helena. Across the 15 states affected by the closures, 10 lack assigned state directors.
Under the reorganization, state directors for most Western states will report to a newly created Deputy Chief of Field Operations West, based in Salt Lake City — a position that currently sits vacant.
Workforce and Budget Backdrop
The facility closures come after the Forest Service shed nearly 6,000 employees in 2025 — about 16% of its total workforce — through a combination of DOGE-driven reductions and early retirements. Employees at the 23 closing locations are expected to be reassigned to other facilities within commuting distance.
The Trump administration’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget would cut the agency’s discretionary funding by approximately 75%, with reductions targeting National Forest System management, operations, and major firefighting programs. The same budget proposal, however, would increase funding for the commercial logging program by nearly 450%.
Three USFS regional offices are also relocating as part of the broader restructuring: Region 6 is moving from Portland to Salem, Region 8 from Atlanta to Athens, and Region 9 from Milwaukee to Madison.
Broader Implications
Critics have pointed to the $16 million in projected savings as modest compared to other federal expenditures — a comparison that has circulated on social media — though the agency frames the closures as one piece of a longer-term effort to right-size its real estate footprint.
For Montana, where the Forest Service manages tens of millions of acres and plays a central role in timber, recreation, and wildfire response, the combination of workforce losses, budget proposals, and leadership vacancies raises practical questions about agency capacity heading into the 2027 budget cycle. The logging program funding boost may align with the state’s longstanding push for increased timber harvest on federal lands, a priority that Montana’s congressional delegation has championed for years.