The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the closure of its major research site in Beltsville, Maryland amid a reorganization that will relocate 2,600 employees away from the Washington, D.C. area. The agency also announced plans to close most of its forest research stations nationwide.
The Beltsville Research Center is one of the USDA’s largest research facilities, with approximately 500 employees, including many scientists, and over 300 buildings across a sprawling campus. While USDA claims the move will reduce costs and streamline operations, some experts disagree. Relocating the site’s electron and confocal microscope facility, for example, will not be easy or inexpensive, and certain long-term field studies can’t be moved. “It costs time and money [to close down facilities and relocate staff], and the outcome is not always what you expect,” said Ann Bartuska, a former undersecretary for research at USDA.
The proposed changes will also significantly impact the U.S. Forest Service, which manages a network of experimental forests in partnership with local universities. By consolidating operations into a single site in Fort Collins, Colorado, the decades-long experiments conducted in those forests are in jeopardy, potentially leading to the loss of regional ecological knowledge.