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WASHINGTON, April 7, 2026 — The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) condemned the Trump administration’s announcement to relocate the U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and eliminate all regional offices, calling the move a reckless disruption to the dedicated workforce that manages the nation’s forests, fights wildfires, and serves the public. Among those affected are research scientists conducting critical forestry studies that inform land management decisions nationwide, and recreation technicians who keep public lands safe and accessible for the millions of Americans who visit them each year.
“The Trump administration cannot dress up a mass workforce disruption as common-sense management,” said NFFE-IAM National President Randy Erwin. “Our members are in our nation’s forests every single day, helping manage watersheds, wildfires, and the lands that millions of Americans count on. Uprooting their careers and blowing up the structure they work within is not a reform. It is chaos, and the American public and our public lands will pay the price.”
The announcement comes just weeks after 174 workers at the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada and eastern California voted to join NFFE-IAM. The organizing victory sent a strong message that Forest Service workers are seeking more protection as the administration escalates its attacks on federal workers. The rapidly growing desire for employment security through union representation comes as President Trump has unlawfully tried to eliminate federal workers’ jobs and his administration has torn up collective bargaining agreements for federal workers.
NFFE-IAM represents tens of thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees covered by a Master Agreement that provides critical workplace protections. The agency must fulfill its legal obligation to bargain over the impact and implementation of the restructuring before a single worker is forced to relocate, reassigned, or separated.
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM) is a national union representing approximately 110,000 blue and white collar government workers across the United States.
