President Donald Trump, as a way to cripple federal public lands protection, has ordered the closure of a U.S. Forest Service (FS) research station in Nacogdoches, Texas.  This is his “present” to Texans as well as citizens across the U.S., a “thumb in the eye” for National Forests and federal public lands!  The Trump Administration will close 23 research stations of the 64 that exist in the U.S. (that’s 36% of these important research facilities).

The blame falls on President Trump, Secretary of Agriculture (where the FS is located), Brooke Rollins, and FS Chief Tom Schultz (a former timber industry executive).  This is part of their plan to privatize public lands (over 193 million acres are in the National Forest System) by making federal public land agencies so inefficient (firing public servants, closing facilities, and cutting budgets) and unworkable that they are given or sold to the private sector (privatization to logging companies) or to States (which don’t have the money to manage federal public lands).  It’s a travesty, but one that has come home to roost in Texas.

There has been federal forest research in East Texas by the FS since 1945 (81 years) and research at the present Nacogdoches location since 1971 (55 years).  Some of the research that has occurred is for forest management, wildlife, and the effects of forestry practices on animals. This includes research on the federally threatened Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Louisiana Pine Snake, prescribed burning, wetland ecosystems, and how climate change, invasive species, logging, and oil/gas exploitation affect wildlife and ecosystems.

The Nacogdoches laboratory was leased to the FS by Stephen F. Austin State University for 99 years and there have been close ties between the University and the FS ever since.  No more! The effects could place experiments, long-term data, partnerships, and retention of scientists with knowledge of East Texas ecosystems in danger. 

Some have stated that this is a shift from public science to private profits and that research in the FS is being “gutted”.  Trump, in 2025, wanted to zero out all research and development budgets but the U.S. Congress didn’t agree.  Now the next worst thing, hollow out the research arm of the FS, had occurred.

If you disagree with this decision and the degradation of our FS national research efforts let you Congressperson and two U.S. Senators know.  Now isn’t the time to give up!

Thanks to Jim MacKey for alerting the Houston Sierra Club about this issue.  The following references provided information for this article:

1. “Forest Service to close longtime Nacogdoches research station”, Ruben Ibarra Jr., The Lufkin Daily News, October 5, 2026.

2. “Privatizing Our National Forests?  Mass Reorganization of Forest Service – Including Closing Nacogdoches Research Station – May be First Step”, Wendee Nicole, Deceleration, April 10, 2026 and May 7, 2026.