VIDEO: In Response to Van Hollen Questions, USFS Chief Maintains Forest Research Will Remain in Baltimore Area

Thursday, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, questioned U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Chief Tom Schultz during a subcommittee hearing regarding the proposed closure of the USFS Baltimore Urban Field Station, who maintained that the facility's research and staff will remain in the Baltimore area. The Senator's hearing questioning on this matter followed an April 24 letter that he and members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation sent to USFS Chief Schultz outlining their concerns with the proposed closure of the field station.

Video of the Senator's questioning is available here and a transcript is available below:

SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.): Chief Schultz, it's good to see you again.

I think we talked last year about Maryland forests and the Chesapeake Bay. We, of course, have a beautifully geographically diverse country, and the challenges we face with forests are different from the West Coast to the East Coast, and Maryland.

In Maryland, 40 percent of our state is forested. Three-quarters of that forest land is privately owned. So, for us, being able to support private forest owners in being good stewards of their lands and making sure that owning forest lands remains profitable for them is key to sustaining the state's forestry economy, the health of our forests, and the protection of the Bay watershed. And the Forest Research Service work has been essential to Maryland and surrounding states - creating innovative wood products that generates new jobs, addressing invasive diseases, diseases like the emerald ash borer and the beech leaf disease, that have been decimating eastern forests, and importantly guiding decisions to help protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

And last year we discussed this, and you agreed that we should have a strong partnership between the Forest Service and Maryland, especially in these key areas.

So, I will say I'm, I'm disappointed to see that once again, the budget zeroes out the state and private forestry and the forest and rangeland research accounts that fund this important work in Maryland. I do hope to work on a bipartisan basis in this committee to reverse that decision.

I'm also very concerned, Chief, about the Forest Service proposal, at least reports of the proposal, to close the Forest Service's Baltimore Urban Field Station. That station has operated for more than 20 years now with the University of Maryland Baltimore County. It's allowed the Field Station to develop very important work related to the Baltimore area community and partnerships, but also important regional and national work - including inventing high-resolution land cover mapping that's been used for urban and community forest management across the country, and leading the Forest Service's Wildland Urban Interface Program to reduce the impact of forest fires. It also has done other important work in health and safety and, as I mentioned, very important work to protect the Bay.

So last week, the Maryland Congressional Delegation sent you a letter with a series of questions on this important topic. And let me just ask you straight out, I mean, are you currently planning to close this office?

U.S. FOREST SERVICE CHIEF TOM SCHULTZ: Mr. Chairman, Senator Van Hollen, we are evaluating that building right now, but we are not planning necessarily one way - we're just evaluating it.

VAN HOLLEN: I appreciate that. If you could, we sent you the letter Friday - so I understand not a lot of time. We'd hoped to get written answers before the hearing, but if you could just commit to getting us answers to that letter in the next week, is that fair?

SCHULTZ: Yes sir, it is. What I will tell you, though, real quick on that. You're right, that is a program that has been in place, but it has not always been at the same facility. We actually used to have some folks that were in Annapolis. So, what I'll commit to you is that we're going to continue - no different than my response to Senator Merkley - we're looking at all of our facilities, and we're looking at retaining the research and the researchers, and there might be other facilities. So USGS actually has a facility right across the street from the UMBC facility that we're currently in. It may be a more cost-effective facility.

The intent is not to reduce the research that we're doing or the people that are doing the research. It's to evaluate the facilities, given this facility cliff that we have - in terms of our ability with our current budgets to pay for that.

So, the research will remain intact. It may be at a different location, but that's what we're evaluating. We will definitely keep you in the loop on that. Yes, sir.

VAN HOLLEN: No, I appreciate that. That is reassuring. So, you intend, number one, to keep the research going and number two, to keep the people doing that research in place.

SCHULTZ: Yes, sir. In place, not maybe in the same physical spot they're in today, but in place and doing the research. It could be across the street at the USGS building. It could be at another facility. We're just evaluating it. I guess we're paying about 100 -

VAN HOLLEN: But we would be talking about at least broader Baltimore area?

SCHULTZ: Yes, yes sir.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, thank you. I have no further questions.