Trump is taking aim at forest and wildfire research just as the West is poised to burn

If Congress were to approve President Trump's proposed budget for the agency, the U.S. Forest Service would be a skeleton of its former self, just as climate change is accelerating the frequency and severity of wildfires in the U.S. The agency already lost thousands of staff last year to layoffs, buyouts and early retirement due to President Trump's DOGE team.

Westerners working at research universities are nervous, as are people in small towns that depend on the USFS for everything from jobs to fighting fires to forecasting smoke.