Michael Boren, the Idaho multimillionaire rancher President Donald Trump picked to oversee the Forest Service a year ago, stepped into that role Tuesday after a long temporary assignment at the Interior Department.
Sworn in by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Boren is now undersecretary of Agriculture for natural resources and environment, a position that looks solely over national forests.
Boren’s arrival at USDA was delayed repeatedly — first, by a nearly 10-month wait to be confirmed by the Senate and then due to a stint at Interior as acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, a job now held by Troy Finnegan.
His shuffle between the agencies in some ways reflects the Trump administration’s direction on forest policy, which seeks to merge much of what the two agencies do. The administration is seeking to move wildfire management from the Forest Service to the Interior Department, and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-Utah) has proposed moving the entire forest agency to Interior.
