U.S. Forest Service

Idaho Gov. Brad Little and U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said Friday that firefighting resources are stretched thin as significant wildfires burn across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and much of the Western United States.

The U.S. Forest Service received roughly 300 applications for the 15 new state director jobs created during a major agency reorganization that’s dissolving regional offices the agency’s first chief, Gifford Pinchot, created nearly 120 years ago.

Mike Garrity writes, "The next time you are in or see an unlogged national forest, take a deep breath and enjoy the clean air, the sparkling streams filled with native fish, the natural forest filled with abundant wildlife -- and be thankful the Forest Service has not logged or burnt it down."

Mike Bader writes, "The Forest Service and the timber industry have effectively lobbied Congress to enact laws based on fire paranoia that cut the public owners of these forests out of the process."

In response to the Trump administration’s recent dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service, a growing number of businesses are joining together to oppose the action.

Missoula knew the Trump administration had its sights on U.S. Forest Service regional offices, but Tuesday’s announcement of the final reorganization went far beyond what was predicted in July.

The headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service will move from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday, a move the agency described as a “common-sense approach to improve mission delivery.”

The USFS will design the timber sales and let the state conduct the sales and oversee the projects.

The Northwest Forest Plan has long protected vulnerable species like spotted owls in federal forests along the West Coast.

Local foresters, retired land managers and elected officials are voicing concern about the federal proposal to eliminate the nation's regional Forest Service offices in a sweeping consolidation plan.