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WASHINGTON, United States – The U.S. Forest Service faces a proposal to eliminate all of its research and development funding as part of a broader budget and organizational overhaul now before Congress. The move accompanies a larger administrative reorganization that would relocate the Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Utah and consolidate the agency’s regional offices into individual state facilities. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz defends the restructuring, citing a $3 billion deferred maintenance backlog and the need to save money by reducing the number of buildings the agency operates. The agency has already reduced staff levels through layoffs and early retirements, adding to concern about its capacity to respond to emerging threats. SEATTLE, United States – Fire ecologists, university researchers and state officials warn the proposed cuts come as forecasts point to an intense wildfire season in the Western United States. Experts at the University of Washington and the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab say the elimination of Forest Service research funding threatens critical data streams used to map wildfire smoke and forecast fire behavior. They note that current smoke mapping tools, which federal and state agencies use to inform public health advisories and guide firefighting strategies, were developed in part through Forest Service research. Critics argue that withdrawing this scientific support would leave states without essential information needed to coordinate suppression responses and protect communities from smoke and rapidly changing fire conditions.

Prepared by Olivia Bennett and reviewed by editorial team.