U.S. Forest Service leadership is in flux as the agency takes sweeping actions in managing the 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest and making regulatory and administrative changes at all levels, Alaska-based officials reported last week.

At the beginning of a four-day federal subsistence Regional Advisory Council meeting in Juneau on March 10, Tongass Supervisor Monique Nelson spoke about shifts in the agency since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

Nelson said staffing on the Tongass is down 30% from this time last year. In the wake of federal workforce reductions by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, 270 Forest Service employees are currently working in Southeast Alaska.

Nelson, who has worked for the Forest Service in Alaska for several years, stepped into the Tongass supervisor role last spring.

“Since the changes in the administration, we have shifted our work from the focus on the Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy to other agency priorities that include active forest management, disaster recovery, minerals and energy and access to outdoor recreation,” she said.

Forest Service personnel are currently working through planning processes for logging, mining and energy projects, Nelson said.

The largest of the planned logging sales are South Revilla east of Ketchikan and the Twin Mountain II on eastern Prince of Wales Island, both of which include old-growth timber harvest, she said.

“For both of those projects, we did find a significant likelihood of impacts to subsistence resources,” Nelson told the subsistence council members.

Among its energy projects, the Forest Service is continuing to work on the Angoon-area Thayer Creek hydropower project.

The service is preparing for tourist season by hiring seasonal staff to take care of Tongass National Forest day-use sites, bear viewing areas, campgrounds and visitor centers.

Following Nelson’s presentation, council member Ted Sandhofer remarked on the size and scope of current Forest Service projects on the Tongass.

Sandhofer worked for the agency for about 35 years, starting in 1987 as a forester based in Hoonah, and retiring in 2021 as the head of the Petersburg Ranger District.

He said that the current project list is “a big workload, as big as I've seen on the Tongass.”

“I know that there's a reduction in (workforce), so it seems like you're going to be doing more with less. … Do you have enough people?” Sandhofer asked.

Nelson told him the agency currently is working through “interim operations” while adjusting to staffing reductions.

“We in Alaska are now working as part of a larger Pacific team with California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, overseen by a (Pacific Northwest) regional forester on their executive leadership team.”

Acting regional forester for Alaska, Jerry Ingersoll, started in the role in October. He previously worked with the agency in Ketchikan and Juneau for about seven years. Introducing himself at the council meeting, Ingersoll said he’ll be retiring at the end of April.

The permanent regional forester for the Pacific Northwest, Jacque Buchanan, spoke to the transition in Forest Service leadership for Alaska.

“When Jerry steps out, I'm going to step fully into it,” Buchanan said. “This is the interim space. … I think we will probably be in this space for the next six to eight months. And so what the future is exactly going to look like, we don't know.”

“I have pretty high assurance that, especially here in Alaska, there will remain a state-level leadership,” Buchanan said “It may be called something different, you know, it's probably, it's not going to be (an Alaska) regional forester, but it would be a state leadership at the same level.”

With reduced staffing levels, Nelson said, “a lot of the local projects will be harder to address, and the emphasis on partnerships is really what's going to make a difference for us to be able to make sure that we're attending to those very local needs.”

She said partnerships remain a priority for the Forest Service. “Just recently, we entered into a shared stewardship agreement with the state of Alaska, and that agreement is focused on providing wood to the wood products industry and pairing that with restoration actions on the forest.”

Nelson said the Trump administration is prioritizing “deregulation and organizational efficiency, and then also an emphasis on partnerships as part of the deregulation agenda.”

Forest Service personnel in Washington, D.C., are working through the process to repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule, which could open the Tongass to more logging. A draft environmental impact statement is expected this spring.