As Trump comes after research, Forest Service scientists keep working

This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The research and development team at the U.S. Forest Service employs about 1,500 people full-time, a small but mighty faction inside an agency that, until recently, was 35,000 strong. The research it conducts spans everything from managing visitors at recreation hotspots to understanding the pulse of life and land on the 193 million acres the agency manages.

Since President Donald Trump took office, his barrage of executive actions in the name of curbing waste has imperiled the basic functions of federal agencies. At the Forest Service, the result is a climate of fear and uncertainty that’s stymieing the scientists working to fulfill the agency’s missio