The Forest Service plans to shed as many as 7,000 additional employees in the coming months through force reductions and early retirements, with a heavy toll on research that supports healthier forests, according to two agency employees and others familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking.
The mass departures — more than double the number terminated in the recent firings of probationary employees, if realized — would affect a wide range of missions as the administration looks to shift the agency’s decision-making away from Washington and toward local offices. The Forest Service had around 30,000 total employees prior to this year’s reductions.
With a large organizational chart of managers compared with other departments, one Forest Service employee told POLITICO’s E&E News on Wednesday, “We are sheep headed to slaughter when it comes to our innocence compared to other agencies.”
Employees who shared details about the plans aren’t authorized to speak publicly and requested that their names be withheld.
