USDA ‘to be flexbile’ with Employees During Reorg, Rollins Says

Politico’s Rachel Shin reported that “employees should expect to receive more detail about USDA’s reorganization ‘by the beginning of this summer,’ (Agriculture Secretary Brooke) Rollins said during a brief interview outside the department Friday. ‘We’re going to be flexible if they can’t move right away or they’ve got other issues,’ she added. ‘We’re working really hard to support these career employees and make sure that they have what they need, that this hopefully is a positive experience for all, understanding that anytime a job relocates, probably not the easiest thing.'”

“More than 20,000 USDA employees have already departed the department through various Trump administration policies, including last year’s deferred resignation initiative,” Shin reported. “The vast majority of employees are already based outside of the capital region. USDA’s reorganization is expected to move around 2,600 employees from Washington to five hubs around the country.”

“Asked if she had concerns about a decline in institutional knowledge amid the reorganization, she acknowledged some concerns with understaffing,” Shin reported. “‘Anytime you go through a significant reorganization of any organization, corporate, government, school, etc., it’s always going to be a little bit clunky,’ she noted. As USDA has received complaints about understaffed offices, the department has ‘worked really hard to be basically on the spot within a short period of time,’ she said.”

“Rollins added that she is ‘excited’ about the second year of her tenure at USDA and the forthcoming reorganization,” Shin reported. “‘It’s not seamless. It never will be, but it has been better than I expected,’ she said. ‘The career employees that we work with every day are extraordinary. We’ve started giving awards to our career employees. We call them the unsung heroes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.'”

Tribal Governments Say USDA Reorganization Will Hurt Them

Government Executive’s Eric Katz reported that “tribal governments largely panned the Agriculture Department’s plan to relocate thousands of employees around the country and shutter some regional offices, saying during recent consultations the reforms would degrade long-established relationships and result in staffing shortages that negatively affect services.”

“Native populations will suffer the consequences if USDA’s efforts to relocate staff out of Washington and into five new ‘hubs’ around the country leads to a brain drain at the department, the tribal officials said,” according to Katz’s reporting. “It will also make meeting and communicating with USDA staff more difficult, they added, as they often travel from Indian Country to Washington anyway to meet with other government personnel.”

“USDA Undersecretary Stephen Vaden held the consultations in October as part of the department’s final steps before it implements its reorganization, which will see 2,600 Washington-based employees relocated to offices in in Raleigh, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Indianapolis; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Salt Lake City, Utah,” Katz reported. “Vaden sought to assuage the tribal concerns by extolling the benefits of USDA’s plans, according to a summary of the meetings the department released this week, but declined to accept any of their proposed changes.”

“‘Their concerns included the diminishment or elimination of gains from good working relationships, the loss of institutional knowledge specific to tribal issues and treaty obligations, losing coordination with leadership, and the effect on the management of local treaty resources,’ USDA said in a summary of the tribes’ comments,” Katz reported.

USDA Moving Forest Service HQ to Utah

E&E News’ Marc Heller reported that “the Forest Service will move its headquarters to Salt Lake City as part of a “sweeping” restructuring of the agency, the Agriculture Department said Tuesday.”

“The move away from the nation’s capital is part of a broader effort to put the forest agency closer to the Western areas that make up the bulk of the 193-million-acre forest system, the USDA said in its announcement,” Heller reported. “‘Establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City and streamlining how the Forest Service is organized will position the Chief and operation leaders closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them,’ Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said.

President Trump is bringing common sense back to government. Here at @USDA, we’re helping carry out that mission by moving out of the DC Beltway and into the communities we serve.

By establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City, the @ForestService will be closer to the…

— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) March 31, 2026

“The USDA said the Forest Service will also transition to a ‘state-based organizational model’ to shift authority closer to the field — a goal the administration has emphasized since the beginning of the second Trump administration,” Heller reported. “The Forest Service said the relocation to Salt Lake City will be complete by summer 2027. About 260 headquarters positions will relocate there, while 130 will remain in Washington, the Forest Service said. Additional phases of the reorganization, including the formal elimination of regional and station office structures and the full transition to a state-based model, will be implemented over the coming year.”