There’s no two ways about it: the U.S. Forest Service is at an impasse, seized by uncertainty like hardly ever before. In its quest for a supposedly leaner, more decentralized government, the Trump administration, led by DOGE chieftain Elon Musk, is taking an ax to the federal workforce. The Forest Service in particular is hemorrhaging manpower: it was reported on Friday that Trump had pink-slipped 3,400 workers. That is roughly one-tenth of USFS personnel. “These cuts are particularly impactful for the Northwest because we have vast expanses of national forest and public land,” says Rep. Kim Schrier. However much the PNW has to lose, this is no mere regional issue. It’s an affront to Mother Nature herself, Schrier says, because “we’re taking away people who do what we call ‘wildfire mitigation’: they do the work that thins the forests to prevent catastrophic wildfires. They do that year-round so we aren’t choking on smoke all summer.”
Sampling of additional coverage:
- Colorado Springs Business Journal: Governor Polis blasts recent federal cuts to the US Forest Service
- Oregon Public Broadcasting, by April Ehrlich: Trump’s firing of Forest Service workers raises concerns about wildfires in Oregon, the West
- Boise State Public Radio: In an Idaho mountain town, mass firings provoke a community backlash
- Native News Online: Layoffs at National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service Raise Concern Over Sacred Lands