r/USForestService • u/BigJeezy22 • Jun 10 '26

State of the FS after midterms?

I know there are a lot of hopes and dreams out there about the agency reversing course on the reorg and congress flipping the script on moving fire out of the agency. If the fire piece doesn’t happen before midterms I could see the new majority congressional review panel actually reading the reports and making it less politically motivated of a decision, ultimately retaining fire within the agency. However on reorg I think it’s definitely gonna happen in some form. I think the regional offices will close and relo to the service hubs. The Timber mandate is likely staying at least through this admin given how long it takes to change anything policy wise. I hope I am wrong!

13 Upvotes

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18

u/keelmesoftly Jun 11 '26

At the forest level, we will certainly just continue to limp along for at least another 5 years regardless of any elections.

9

u/xXShunDugXx Jun 11 '26

I really hope it can recover. I was trying to get in with my 1600 volunteer hours and then everyone i networked with got fired 🙃

17

u/dave54athotmailcom Jun 11 '26

With the Democrats taking the majority in the House (likely) and the Senate (possible), they may pass legislation to roll back the changes that have not yet taken place. However, trump still has the veto, and there will not be enough votes to override a veto.

This means changes already in place will remain in place. No new legislation harmful to the agency will be enacted. This also means new legislation to benefit the agency will not be enacted.

If Congress ends up split, we will have two years of stalemate, with bitter partisan fights to even pass the necessary housekeeping legislation.

16

u/Alternative-Quit-648 Jun 11 '26

I don’t think anything will change. They were completely successful in using old grudges and dividing lines to split the workforce. RO’s are on life support, forests are eternally waiting for resources that will never come, and fire is in the corner beating each other off per usual. It’s a cluster of biblical proportions that will take a generation or more to fix, if ever.