This is something that already is happening in Montana, Utah and Nevada. And this could be a critical downsizing. In southwest Montana alone, the Forest Service is looking at four separate consolidations. One of those involves merging the Wise River and Wisdom ranger offices. That would leave one ranger district to administer a huge 880,00-acre empire.
Consolidation can bring greater efficiency and save taxpayer dollars.
But the issue is one of degree. These kinds of mergers do more than trim administrative fat. They translate into management of local resources by distant offices. And these cuts leave agencies responsible for implementing public policy vulnerable to the very groups they're charged with regulating. Industry and environmentalists alike never hesitate to file a lawsuit when displeased by a Forest Service or BLM decision.