Forest Service cuts in PNW

The United States Forest Service is closing key Pacific Northwest research sites just as wildfire specialists warn the region could need their work within months. (opb.org) The agency said it is shutting down 50 of its 70 research stations nationwide, including centers in Portland, Seattle and Wenatchee, Washington. More than 200 people work in the Northwest stations slated to close. (opb.org) The closures are part of a broader reorganization announced March 31 that also moves Forest Service headquarters from Washington, District of Columbia, to Salt Lake City, closes all nine regional offices, and replaces them with 15 state-level offices. The Portland-based Pacific Northwest Research Station, founded about 100 years ago, is being consolidated into a single research organization in Fort Collins, Colorado. (opb.org) Forest Service leaders said permanent researchers will not lose their jobs if they accept reassignment. Chief Thomas Schultz Jr. told staff there is “a position for every permanent employee willing to accept reassignment.” (opb.org) The work at stake is not abstract. The Seattle lab studies how fire smoke moves, how it affects public health, and how burns change wildlife habitat and forest ecosystems. (king5.com) Retired Forest Service fire scientist Don McKenzie said researchers there are updating maps of fire threats to rural communities, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. University of Washington fire ecologist Susan Prichard said the same lab is expected to help produce smoke forecasts this summer that land managers use for warnings and prescribed-burn decisions. (opb.org) Federal fire outlooks already point to a tougher season ahead. The National Interagency Coordination Center’s April outlook said parts of the Pacific Northwest east of the Cascade Range could face above-normal significant fire potential in June, with hotter and drier conditions favored across much of the West into summer. (nifc.gov) Researchers and state officials say relocation itself can break place-based science that depends on nearby forests, field plots and local partnerships. Washington Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove said he wants to make sure consolidation does not cause “any loss of the valuable scientific research underway” in his state. (opb.org, king5.com) The Agriculture Department has defended the overhaul as a way to move leadership closer to Western forests and local communities. The National Association of State Foresters said April 3 that it supports the shift to a state-based model, while Oregon forestry officials said it was too early to know how the changes would affect day-to-day coordination. (federalnewsnetwork.com, stateforesters.org, opb.org) For now, the immediate question is whether the Forest Service can move hundreds of scientists, close laboratories and keep smoke forecasting, hazard mapping and fire research running through the 2026 season. (opb.org, king5.com)