Shaheen Statement on USDA Plans to Close Facilities at New Hampshire’s Nearly 100-Year-Old Bartlett Experimental Forest, Leaving Hubbard Brook’s Future at Risk

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a Senior member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee and Ranking Member of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies (Ag-FDA) Subcommittee, released the following statement on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service, including plans to close facilities at New Hampshire’s Bartlett Experimental Forest and “further evaluate” Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest:

“New Hampshire’s experimental forests conduct long-running research that not only serves our state, but also rural communities throughout New England, bolstering the health of our forests and the well-being of local economies that depend on the timber, recreation and clean air and water they provide. It’s unacceptable that the Trump Administration’s USDA is taking steps that will undermine our nation’s experimental forests—particularly after Congress passed, and the President signed into law, funding to provide more resources to experimental forests like Bartlett and Hubbard Brook.

“For nearly a hundred years, research at Bartlett has informed management of northern hardwood forests in New England, helping to improve silvicultural practices and better manage wildlife habitat; we first discovered acid rain only thanks to ecosystem research at Hubbard Brook. The long-running research going on at our experimental forests is too important to give up on, and I don’t intend to let these treasured places close without a fight.”

Senator Shaheen has championed support for New England’s experiment forests. In the Fiscal Year 2026 government funding bills that were signed into law, Shaheen helped boost funding for state and private forestry, as well as forest research. Shaheen helped secure $308.5 million for the Forest Service’s Forest and Rangeland Research account, including language directing the U.S. Forest Service to use a portion of that funding to prioritize staffing at longstanding experimental forests like Bartlett and Hubbard Brook in New Hampshire.

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