The Forest Service has launched an ambitious goal of handing states more responsibility for federal land, agency Chief Tom Schultz said Wednesday.
Speaking to a national forest policy conference in Washington, Schultz outlined the Trump administration’s vision of a Forest Service with a narrower public mission that relies more heavily on state governments to keep the 193-million-acre system healthy and less at risk of out-of-control wildfires.
“I see a different role for the states, maybe, going forward,” Schultz said, pointing to the administration’s recent 20-year agreement with Montana to allow the state to manage 200,000 acres of national forest for timber, wildfire and other priorities.
Gone are the days, Schultz said, when states with limited budgets were viewed as subservient to the federal government.
