A More Than Just Parks Investigation
On March 31, 2026, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins ordered every Forest Service regional office closed, its national headquarters gutted, and its research infrastructure dismantled. Here is what each one did, and what we lose without it.
0 days since Rollins signed the order
Our Reporting
Imagine closing every fire station in a city and replacing them with one political appointee. That is what just happened to 193 million acres of American forest.
Click any office or stateTap any office or state to see what was lost
What This Office Did
What We Lose
What This Means for You
Key National Forests
Each card represents a closed or gutted Forest Service office. Click to explore.
In addition to the 9 regional offices, Rollins' restructuring is gutting the Forest Service's entire scientific infrastructure. These labs, research stations, and experimental forests produce the science that underpins every fire management plan, every timber sale, every species recovery effort in the federal system.
57 research facilities across 30 states
Nine regional offices and 57 research facilities that coordinate wildfire response, manage endangered species, produce the science behind every fire management plan, maintain tribal treaty relationships, and protect the watersheds that supply drinking water to millions of Americans. Being dismantled in a single order. Signed by Brooke Rollins.
Sources
U.S. Forest Service regional office data, USDA Budget Justifications, Forest Service Research & Development program data, Experimental Forest and Range network records, Congressional Research Service reports, National Interagency Fire Center, USDA Office of Inspector General. Office and research facility closures ordered by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, March 31, 2026. Last updated April 2026.