The Trump administration is greatly underestimating the disruption its reorganization of the Forest Service is likely to cause for the agency’s 30,000 employees, according to a whistleblower letter delivered to Congress on Monday.
In a letter from the nonprofit Government Accountability Project, employees said as many as 1,900 workers may face relocation as the plan unfolds, far more than the 500 predicted by Deputy Agriculture Secretary Stephen Vaden.
The letter also includes breakdowns of where the 6,500 employees who may be affected by the reorganization — whether relocated or not— presently work. The disclosures by anonymous employees are protected by federal whistleblower laws that forbid retaliation, the letter said.
The shakeup’s heaviest impacts would be felt in New Mexico, California and Montana, each of which would see more than 500 employees affected, according to the letter. The most-affected office would be business operations, with as many as 1,590 employees impacted.
