Plan To Close Hamden Research Facility Draws Opposition From CT’s Federal Delegation

HAMDEN, CT — Connecticut’s federal delegation is opposing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans to close the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) research and development center in Hamden.

U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, along with U.S. Representatives John Larson, Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes, and Jahana Hayes, sent a letter to the USDA this week opposing the plan.

“This site has been on the forefront of fighting invasive insects and diseases that threaten our forests for decades, and we urge you to abandon this short-sighted reorganization plan and leave the Connecticut lab intact,” the lawmakers wrote.

USFS recently announced that it aims to close 57 of 77 similar facilities across the nation and consolidate them into a handful of regional facilities.

The work of the Connecticut facility in Hamden is expected to move to Warren, Pennsylvania, under the current restructuring plan. Nine staff members would be relocated as a result of this change, according to a news release.

Moving the research and development center out of Connecticut and New England could “delay critical research of invasive insects and diseases affecting our state,” according to the news release. “The lab in Connecticut has been instrumental in studying and responding to emerging threats to tree life such as spotted lantern flies, Asian longhorned beetles and the spongy moth.”

“It is hard to overstate the threat these species pose to forests in our region – one recent study found that invasive insects are now responsible for a quarter of tree deaths across the Northeast,” the delegation wrote. “…It is especially baffling considering your own stated goals for USDA research and development. In a Secretary’s memo dated December 30, 2025, you list ‘protecting the integrity of American agriculture from invasive species’ as one of your research and development priorities. Now just a few months later, you are threatening to close a facility that does exactly that.”

The delegation is urging USFS to “immediately abandon its plans to close the Hamden facility and allow the talented scientists and researchers to continue their important work,” according to the news release.

DeLauro, who represents the 3rd Congressional District that includes Hamden, proposed an amendment during the fiscal year 2027 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations markup to protect critical forest research facilities, including the research and development center in Hamden, according to DeLauro’s office.

An official said Chairman Mike Simpson (R-ID-02) agreed to work with DeLauro to obtain more information from the USFS about the agency’s plans and decision-making process, and "ensure that the Appropriations Committee is given adequate opportunity to provide input about these important research facilities going forward."

Text of the amendment is available here.