{"id":3540,"date":"2026-07-10T19:38:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3540"},"modified":"2026-07-10T19:38:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:38:59","slug":"lawsuit-alleges-forest-service-overhaul-is-cover-for-massive-workforce-downsizing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3540","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit alleges Forest Service overhaul is cover for massive workforce downsizing"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>KEY POINTS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Unions, nonprofits and municipalities seek to stop USDA reorganization in a new lawsuit.<\/li>\n<li>The USDA&#8217;s proposed changes include moving the Forest Service headquarters to Utah.<\/li>\n<li>The suit claims purpose is not to create efficiencies but to drastically reduce the workforce.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and one of its agencies, the Forest Service, announced a large-scale reorganization. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3538\">An old rival is lending an 11th-century tapestry to England<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Part of the plan is to move the Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, and close nine existing regional hubs in order to open 15 state-specific offices. Most of those would be in the West where the vast majority of forest lands are held. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately it\u2019s about smarter government,\u201d Forest Service chief Tom Schultz told the Deseret News in an interview after the April announcement. \u201cWhat this looks like is: to be leaner, more efficient and closer to the public that we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But there are a number of entities that disagree with the proposal. A large coalition of federal employee unions, municipalities and nonprofits  this month against the Trump administration seeking to block the reorganization. They allege that it is not about smart government, but a politically motivated downsizing. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSDA\u2019s actual goal is to radically downsize the agency\u2019s workforce, achieving at least an agency-wide 23% overall reduction and a 31% overall reduction when considering the public safety and inspection workforce,\u201d  seeking a preliminary injunction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSDA intends to achieve this goal through forced relocations of agency workers because \u2018USDA is anticipating that a significant number of employees will decline geographic reassignments.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<h3>A larger context <\/h3>\n<p>The new court filing is an addendum to a larger lawsuit against the Trump administration that  in the aftermath of the Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s large-scale cuts to the federal workforce. <\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court granted a stay to those executive actions by the administration or federal agencies in the spring and summer 2025 as a result of that lawsuit. The high court \u201cexpressed no view\u201d on the relative merits of the arguments, pushing it back down to lower courts to decide. <\/p>\n<p>The arguments of the two cases are similar: that any such reorganization requires congressional approval.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCongress, not the president, still determines the mission and functions of federal agencies created by statute, and Congress has repeatedly drawn the line to say no to workforce reductions,\u201d Corinne Johnson, a partner at Altshuler Berzon, one of the firms representing the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe actions of this administration to reorganize USDA are a ruse for forcing employees to quit because they work on programs \u2014 like feeding low-income women and children, protecting our forests, or scientific research \u2014 that this administration opposes for political reasons. That is unlawful.&#8221; <\/p>\n<h3>Moving the Forest Service to Utah <\/h3>\n<p>Salt Lake City is the center of the West, Schultz said earlier. \u201cWe just see that as a great fit for the Forest Service, for the USDA and for the state of Utah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3536\">Campground evacuated, reservoir closed after fire breaks out in American Fork Canyon<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A date for the move has not been disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit\u2019s memorandum claims that the Forest Service is already \u201cseverely understaffed\u201d after losing 6,000 employees in 2025 as part of job reduction efforts, and that moving offices would only further deplete its workforce. <\/p>\n<p>Schultz said in April, however, that \u201cthere are no layoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be some directed reassignments. People will be offered new opportunities. Their job could look a little different; it could be in a different location,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve made it very clear to our employees that if they want to work in the Forest Service, we will help them to find a place that works for them and for us.\u201d <\/p>\n<h3>Conflicting messages?<\/h3>\n<p>The lawsuit contends the intention of the reorganization is to lower head counts. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough USFS claims that the restructuring is not intended to force employees to quit or leave, on June 1, 2026, USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Vaden sent a letter to Congress that confirms that the purpose of the forced relocations is to reduce the agency\u2019s workforce,\u201d reads the court memo. <\/p>\n<p>The memo explained that Vaden was \u201ccontending \u2018the previous administration\u2019 conducted \u2018hiring that was unsustainable\u2019 and so \u2018the Trump administration is reorganizing the Forest Service to align its workforce size with available resources.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<p>An internal USDA document from April 2025  with the lawsuit says the intention is to reduce the federal workforce. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUSDA is anticipating that a significant number of employees will decline geographic reassignments &#8230; ,\u201d reads the document. <\/p>\n<p>While the various statements appear contradictory, they are consistent with promises made by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce. <\/p>\n<p>Still, the plaintiff\u2019s lawyers argue that, too, runs afoul of the law. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn agency that provides a public explanation that contradicts its own internal rationale runs afoul of the (Administrative Procedure Act\u2019s) requirement to provide a reasoned explanation,\u201d according to the request for an injunction. \u201cThe disjunction between USDA\u2019s private rationale and public explanation alone renders the reorganization plan arbitrary and capricious.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Last April, Schultz wanted to remind folks that the Forest Service is approaching the changes with \u201ca degree of humility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe intent is to better serve the public and care for the land. The land needs a lot of caring for,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we think the closer we are to doing that, it\u2019s going to improve the land management and the fire management function that we provide.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3534\">European Commission said Instagram, Facebook breached Digital Services Act<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Are Forest Service headquarters moving to Utah? Why is USDA reorganizing? Why are labor unions, counties, cities suing Trump over USDA reorganization?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lawsuit alleges Forest Service overhaul is cover for massive workforce downsizing - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3540\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawsuit alleges Forest Service overhaul is cover for massive workforce downsizing - American Movers Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are Forest Service headquarters moving to Utah? 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