LaMalfa, Costa want USDA, Forest Service to testify on reorganization
Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Agriculture Forestry and Horticulture Subcommittee, said at a hearing today he wants Agriculture Department and Forest Service officials to testify on how the Trump administration’s planned USDA reorganization will affect the Forest Service.”
Our intention in further hearings is to have them in and get a handle on where we are right now,” LaMalfa said at a subcommittee hearing after Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said USDA and the Forest Service should be invited to testify on reorganization.
LaMalfa and Costa made the statements at a subcommittee hearing titled Promoting Forest Health and Resiliency Through Improved Active Management.
At the hearing, both Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Ore., ranking member on the subcommittee, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., ranking member on the full House Agriculture Committee, criticized the reorganization.
Salinas said USDA’s reorganization, “which would centralize staff and research in distant hubs, threatens to strip away local expertise and trusted partnerships that are essential for success. That includes long-standing collaborations with institutions like Oregon State University.”
Salinas said “workforce reductions have only worsened the problem” and “the Trump administration’s budget proposes deep reductions to the very programs that help state, tribal, and private partners carry out active management.”
Craig said, “USDA’s half-baked reorganization plan promises to consolidate forestry research scientists and jeopardizes the work they’re doing with universities and other partners throughout the country. Simply put, all these decisions undermine the Forest Service’s statutory requirement to manage our nation’s forests to meet the needs of present and future generations.”
The subcommittee hearing was wide ranging, covering forest management, fire and trade issues.
During the hearing, LaMalfa and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., both noted that the farm bill the committee passed in 2024 included forestry provisions and said they hope it will be passed this year.
Also today, a coalition of 22 groups led by American Forests urged the Senate to pass the Fix Our Forests Act. The letter notes that the House has already acted on the companion bill, H.R. 471, but it remains for the Senate to continue to advance the Fix Our Forests Act out of committee and passage on the Senate floor.
–The Hagstrom Report
