No way to treat people, communities or the forest
- Wrangell Sentinel
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The following editorial was published by the Wrangell Sentinel.
The Tongass is the largest national forest in the country, and that’s no small thing to trifle with. But trifle the Trump administration is doing, treating the Tongass, the U.S. Forest Service employees who work in the Tongass and the communities that live here as not worthy of being told about their future.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which takes its orders from the White House and which runs the Forest Service, announced three weeks ago that it was restructuring the 121-year-old agency, closing research stations, closing and consolidating regional offices and moving people around — those it doesn’t fire.
That’s about as much detail as the department is sharing.
It’s as if the Trump administration is playing a game of Pick-Up Sticks with the forest, federal employees and communities. Toss everything up in the air and see how the jumble lands.
The federal officials who decide what to tell the public and what not to tell people have said the forestry research station Anchorage, which serves the Tongass and the Chugach National Forest in Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland will both close.
The department has not answered questions about the future of the 78-year-old forestry sciences research station in Juneau.
Nor will the department answer how many people will lose their jobs, or when. Or even when someone will decide who loses their jobs.
“The transition will occur in phases,” the department answers when asked by reporters. “The number of relocations beyond those already identified in the National Capital Region (moving Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Utah) is unknown at this time.”
Which leads to the question: Is anything known at this time, other than the Trump administration apparently likes Republican Utah more than Democrats in Washington. Utah certainly has its beauty and great outdoors, but there are 10 states in the union with more national forest land than Utah. Maybe 11 is the new lucky number.
Forest Service employees went through similar unknowns and stresses more than a year ago, when the president’s Cutter in Chief, the unelected Elon Musk, and his Department of Government Efficiency fired more than 3,000 Forest Service employees nationwide in February 2025. Almost 100 employees in the Tongass were terminated, though some later were called back to work.
Firings and more uncertainty are no way to treat valued employees who work hard to protect the forest and all that lives among the trees and waters. It’s no way to treat businesses and individuals who depend on the agency for information and services.
But it appears there’s no way to stop this irresponsible management. Not until the next election.
