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Missoula officials, forest retirees urge USDA to keep Northern Regional Office in Missoula
Summary
Missoula County commissioners and a coalition of former Forest Service officials urged USDA to retain local Forest Service offices and labs, sending a draft letter to Secretary Rollins and citing concerns about lost expertise, public engagement and insufficient analysis.
Missoula County commissioners reviewed a draft letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Rollins urging the agency not to consolidate the Northern Regional Office and related functions out of Missoula.
Staff read the draft letter, which asked USDA to reconsider consolidation of regional U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service offices and emphasized Missoula’s concentration of federal resources, including a Fire Sciences Laboratory and other technical centers. The letter calls for retaining a local presence because the federal government owns roughly 58% of the land in Missoula County and because local staff provide technical expertise and interagency collaboration,…
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