An update to our earlier coverage of the Forest Service restructuring and what it means for Arkansas
When we published our piece on the U.S. Forest Service’s move to Salt Lake City, a reader left a pointed comment asking whether any of the five Arkansas research stations were among those being closed nationwide. It was a fair and urgent question. Here is what we have been able to find out.
The National Picture
The U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities across 31 states as part of a broader reorganization plan. The agency’s research division is being consolidated into a centralized office in Fort Collins, Colorado, while its headquarters relocates from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, Utah.
The move follows a year of significant researcher attrition. Of the 633 scientists with STEM Ph.D.s employed by the agency in December 2024, 137 had departed by December 2025, one of the largest percentage losses among federal agencies with research staff.
Some employees will be asked to relocate, but many scientists fear the restructuring will prompt widespread departures rather than moves. A parallel from the first Trump administration is instructive. When the Bureau of Land Management was relocated to Grand Junction, Colorado in 2019, more than 87 percent of that office’s Washington staff resigned rather than uproot their lives.
What’s at Stake in Arkansas
Arkansas is home to five Forest Service research locations, each with a distinct scientific mission and decades of accumulated data.
Crossett Experimental Forest (Ashley County) was established in 1934 and is one of the oldest research forests in the South. Managed by the Southern Research Station unit headquartered in Monticello, it has been a critical site for studying loblolly and shortleaf pine management across the upper West Gulf Coastal Plain. That work directly informs timber and wildlife practices across southern Arkansas. (website)
Sylamore Experimental Forest (Stone County), also established in 1934, is the largest experimental forest in Arkansas. Located near Mountain View, it focuses on upland hardwood forest research in the Ozarks and has supported long-term studies that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. (website)
Henry R. Koen Experimental Forest (Newton County), located near Jasper, was established to study Ozark hardwood management. Its location in the heart of the Buffalo River watershed gives it particular significance for understanding forest hydrology and timber practices in steep, rocky terrain. (website)
Alum Creek Experimental Forest (Garland County) is a 4,281-acre site near Jessieville in the Ouachita Mountains, supporting research on southern forest conditions unique to that region. (website)
Southern Pine Ecology and Management Research Unit is the hub that ties much of this together. Headquartered on the University of Arkansas at Monticello campus, this unit focuses on loblolly-shortleaf pine and pine-hardwood forest ecosystems, with staff working across Hot Springs, Monticello, and Crossett. (website)
What We Know About Closures
The Monticello office, home to the Southern Pine Ecology and Management Research Unit, is confirmed to be on the closure list. As the administrative and scientific hub for research across the Arkansas coastal plain and much of the South, its loss would directly affect the staffing and coordination of field research at Crossett and beyond.
According to the Forest Service’s own reorganization materials, facilities not appearing on the agency’s published lists of retained locations are currently under evaluation, with further information to be provided as it becomes available. That uncertainty applies to the experimental forests at Sylamore, Koen, and Alum Creek.
It is worth noting what “closure” can mean in this context. The Forest Service has argued that in many locations, closure refers only to the physical buildings housing small teams, and that scientific positions and research programs are not being eliminated. Critics are skeptical. Former Forest Service employees have warned that closing field offices damages the long-standing relationships with state agencies and universities that serve as essential research partners, and that federal funding to states for various forestry programs depends heavily on those working relationships.
Why Southern Forest Research Is Different
The concern raised most often by scientists and former Forest Service staff is that consolidating research operations in Fort Collins cannot replicate what place-based stations do. A scientist whose career has been built studying the forests of the Arkansas Ozarks or the southern coastal plain cannot simply continue that work from Colorado. The same expertise applied elsewhere is not the same science.
Loblolly pine response to drought, shortleaf pine restoration, hardwood dynamics in the Ozarks: these are questions answered over decades, in place, with local partners. The Crossett Experimental Forest has been generating continuous data since Franklin Roosevelt was president. That continuity is the science.
The concern from researchers in the field is less about the agency’s mission statement and more about the institutional knowledge and long-term datasets that disappear when scientists choose not to relocate.
What Happens Next
The Forest Service has not provided a timeline for when the research station closures will be completed. For now, the experimental forests themselves are not going anywhere. What is at risk is the scientific infrastructure that makes them useful: the staff, the partnerships, and the ongoing studies that in some cases have been running for nearly a century.
We will continue to follow this story. ArkansasOutside.com has contacted Congressman Bruce Westerman of the 4th District of Arkansas (website). He is currently the chair of the Committee on Natural Resources. We will update this article when we receive a reply. If you have connections to the Forest Service research community in Arkansas or have additional information about the status of these facilities, reach out to us at ArkansasOutside.com.
This article is an update to our earlier piece, USDA Moves Forest Service Headquarters: What It Means for Arkansas National Forests, published on ArkansasOutside.com.
This article was originally published on ArkansasOutside.com, your trusted source for outdoor news and updates in The Natural State. Unless otherwise credited, all photos included in this piece are the property of Arkansas Outside, LLC. We take pride in sharing the beauty and adventures of Arkansas through our lens—thank you for supporting our work!
