As chief of the Forest Service, Tom Schultz has an objective that might sound self-defeating: Quit spending so much time — and money — managing the 193-million-acre national forest system.
But that’s part of what Schultz, a former timber executive hired by the Trump administration in 2025, is trying to do at the Forest Service. For the remainder of the administration and probably beyond, he said in an interview, the federal agency will be handing off more responsibility to states.
“We need more partners,” Schultz said, adding that the sheer amount of acreage in need of care is beyond what the Forest Service can handle on its own. “We cannot do it alone. I’m convinced of that.”
The crown jewel of Schultz’s approach so far is a set of 20-year shared stewardship agreements he’s signed with six states and two Native American tribes. While the deals — some brand new, some renewed from earlier agreements — are site specific, all reflect the Forest Service’s effort to step back from oversight of some timber projects and other work in forests.
