Forest Service Chief Discusses Milwaukee Office Closure, Deep Budget Cuts

Tom Schultz. (Public Domain)

U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz provided details to lawmakers Thursday on employees affected by the closure of its regional office in Milwaukee, as well as President Donald Trump’s budget that cuts 75 percent of the agency’s funding.

Schultz fielded questions from members of a Senate appropriations subcommittee. Last month, the Forest Service announced it would close 57 research facilities in 31 states and close nine regional offices, including in Milwaukee. The agency is proposing to shift operations to Madison as one of six nationwide hubs.

Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who sits on the committee, noted she had written to Schultz about the Milwaukee office closure as Senate Democrats have demanded answers on the reorganization.

Schultz told Baldwin the Milwaukee regional office currently has 43 employees with an annual rent of about $833,000.

“We are proposing to move this to Madison, where we have the existing Forest Products Lab. We think it’s a better location,” Schultz said. “There’s been discussions over the last 10 years to relocate from Milwaukee to Madison because of the dwindling number of employees there, as well as the cost for that facility.”

Union leaders representing Forest Service employees previously told WPR that workers may have to be relocated. They said the office was hit hard by retirements and buyouts last year. The number of Forest Service employees in Wisconsin dropped from 645 to 539 as the Trump administration slashed the federal workforce last year. Nationwide, the agency lost 16 percent of its staff.

Baldwin also questioned the closure’s effects on the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, or GLIFWC. The commission represents 11 tribes, including in Wisconsin. The Forest Service and tribes have a memorandum of understanding for collaborating on national forest management, including 1.5 million acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Schultz said the agency would continue to uphold its tribal commitments, but Baldwin seemed skeptical.

“I’d like to get a lot more detail from you on how that restructure is working and how the level of consultation and co-management will continue,” Baldwin said.

Trump seeks deep cuts amid efforts to unify wildland firefighting

Under Trump’s budget proposal, the agency would receive $2.1 billion, down from its current $8.6 billion in funding. The reductions come as the White House is seeking to shift some operations to a federal Wildland Fire Service at the Department of the Interior.

As a result, Forest Service operations would see a roughly 44 percent cut, and funding would drop by nearly 24 percent for the national forest system. The president’s budget would also eliminate all of the agency’s nearly $309 million for research and development, which would affect 1,215 positions.

“The proposed appropriations would drastically reduce staffing to a point that it could undermine basic trust and treaty obligations to GLIFWC member tribes and close coordination— which is vital,” said Jenny Van Sickle, GLIFWC outreach specialist.

Schultz told lawmakers the agency is facing a $3 billion maintenance backlog and can’t afford its current facilities.

“The intent of the reorganization is to maintain the research. It’s to maintain the researchers, but it’s for us to take a hard look at the buildings that we have all across the country,” Schultz said.

As part of restructuring, the agency planned to close research facilities in Wisconsin Rapids and Prairie du Chien. A former Forest Service leader questioned whether those were U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities included by mistake. A research station in Rhinelander, the Forest Products Lab in Madison and Chequamegon-Nicolet district offices will remain open.

Beyond research, Trump’s budget would revive a proposal made last year to eliminate state, private and tribal forestry funding — a loss of $311 million. The money includes grants that provide assistance for states and volunteers to fight wildfires.

“These rural volunteer and career firefighters are already stretched pretty thin, and this budget asks them to continue to risk their lives fighting fires on federal land with no resources to back them up,” Baldwin said.

Schultz said it would fall to the state to provide those funds. Last year, Gov. Tony Evers wrote a letter opposing cuts to Forest Service programs that the state relies on to support its $41.4 billion forest products industry, saying the state receives more than $2 million annually.

The DNR did not immediately provide details on potential effects of reductions, but the agency said last month that cuts to research along with state and tribal grants could harm the state’s work on sustainable forest management.

Forest Service Chief fields questions on Milwaukee office closure, deep budget cuts was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.