to the editor: Staff writer Alex Wigglesworth is right to sound the alarm about the US Forest Service “review” (“Why does a major reorganization at the Forest Service worry people?” April 30). For those of us who have worked alongside the agency for decades, this looks less like “efficiency” and more like dismantling.
For 50 years, CalWild has been studying and protecting California's 20 million acres of national forest. We have relied on critical forest protection laws and trained USFS personnel, which are now disappearing. Potential partners We recently validated our experience on the ground: Since 2025, California has lost 14% of its workforce on public lands, with a 9% reduction in an already understaffed US Forest Service.
Congress has defunded the USFS since the 1990s, especially for activities unrelated to firefighting. Additional proposed budget cuts and policy changes, including efforts to weaken roadless ruleadd to laundry. That's why closing the USFS regional office in California, all of our research facilities, and moving leadership from Washington is a harbinger of further destruction.
He 2019 Bureau of Land Management Headquarters Move lost experienced staff and decades of institutional knowledge. The weakened agency, even in recent weeks, has lost at least five state directors.
That's why Californians should worry.
Although there are still knowledgeable and dedicated people to keep everything in order, a small team with few resources can only do so much. Especially when the vertical goal becomes ramming extraction projects.
Californians will feel the consequences where it matters most: in places like the Angeles and Cleveland National Forests that we all love to visit.
Mark Green, Oakland
The writer is executive director of the wilderness preservation organization CalWild.
