U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski reassured Alaskans that restructuring and further paring back of the U.S. Forest Service, as ordered by the Trump administration, will not eliminate the regional supervisor positions for the Tongass and Chugach national forests in the state.

The administration announced last month its plans to move Forest Service headquarters out of the nation’s capital to Salt Lake City as part of an organizational overhaul. The reorganization will include closing research facilities in 31 states and concentrating resources in the West.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, announced that the move to Utah is expected to be completed by summer 2027, while the restructuring of the agency will continue.

“We will have a state director, and under that state director we will continue to have our regional supervisors in the Tongass (and) up in the Chugach,” Murkowski told reporters in Sitka on April 2.

Many regional offices will close in the reorganization, and their services will shift to hubs around the country.

The senator noted, however, that Forest Service staffing is down significantly from when Trump took office, with Tongass staffing down about 30% from last year.

That could present challenges for employees with major projects in front of them, “whether it’s the revisions to the Tongass Management Plan, the discussions about the president’s executive order, the shared stewardship agreement with the state, discussions about the Roadless Rule,” Murkowski said.

“How does all this come about if you don’t have the men and women on the ground to help facilitate this?” she asked.

Murkowski encouraged Alaskans to engage with the ongoing Forest Service process to develop a revised land management plan for the Tongass.

The agency has been holding meetings around Southeast to accept public comment. The Wrangell session is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, at the Nolan Center.

She said people should speak up about how they use the Tongass for cultural activities, customary and traditional harvesting, tourism and other activities.

“Alaskans need to be weighing in here,” Murkowski said. “You have an administration in play right now who is very, very aggressive, leaning into resource development, including on the timber harvest and management side. We get that, but we also recognize that the Tongass is a multiple-use forest. Always has been, always will be.”