The U.S. Forest Service research labs in Seattle and Wenatchee are targeted for closure, part of a broader restructuring of the agency that is housed in the Department of Agriculture.
Of the agency’s 77 research labs across the nation, 57 will be shuttered over the coming year including the two in Washington. The state office in Olympia will remain open.
As part of the administrative overhaul, the Forest Service plans to relocate its headquarters from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City, Utah, and consolidate management of research labs into one location in Fort Collins, Colorado. The goal is to get staff closer to the roughly 90% of the federal lands managed by the agency, leaders say…