Wildfire prevention, trail work at risk in Colorado under Forest Service seasonal hiring freeze

A federal hiring freeze on seasonal U.S. Forest Service workers could mean fewer people putting out abandoned campfires, constructing trails and preventing wildfires across Colorado next year.

The freeze is projected to impact 156 temporary seasonal positions across Colorado. Those employees cover a wide range of critical tasks: wildfire prevention and education, campsite management and biological fieldwork as well as trail construction and maintenance.

Local government leaders said the staffing reductions would be felt hard in Colorado’s central mountains, where highly trafficked Forest Service land dominates much of the area and is the center of recreation tourism that fuel economies. Several counties pay to fund seasonal positions, but the hiring freeze means those paid-for positions could remain vacant, putting years-old agreements in jeopardy.

“We’re really concerned,” said Gary Tennenbaum, Pitkin County open space and trails director. “We’d lose pretty significant capacity to manage recreation in the county.”

The hiring freeze, announced by U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore in September, is the result of a potential $500 million budget cut to the agency in the coming fiscal year.

“We just can’t get the same amount of work done with fewer employees,” Moore said in a staff call. “So, in other words, we’re going to do what we can with what we have. We’re not going to try to do everything that is expected of us with less people.”

The Forest Service manages about a fifth of Colorado’s land, including popular recreation areas like Brainard Lake, the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Maroon Bells Scenic Area. Some counties, like Pitkin, are primarily made of Forest Service land.

Summit County voters in 2018 passed a property tax increase to pay for critical needs in the community, including wildfire mitigation. Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue said the county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from that tax increase to pay for Forest Service seasonal crews — including about $736,000 last year. More than 80% of the land in Summit County is managed by the service.

“Six years ago, we recognized already that the USFS was woefully short staffed, and despite the fact that we pay for these positions, they’re about to go away again,” Pogue said.

Impact of shortfall

The Forest Service is operating under a continuing resolution through Dec. 20 while Congress considers a spending bill.

“Given that the agency is operating under a continuing resolution and that we anticipate a budget-limited environment in FY 2025, we are making decisions to plan for such a scenario,” said Donna Nemeth, a spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Region of the Forest Service.

The positions frozen locally include three in the regional office. Here are the numbers of positions frozen in each Colorado national forest:

• Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests: 29
• Rio Grande National Forest: 12
• Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland: 28
• Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron-Comanche National Grasslands: 31
• San Juan National Forest: 23
• White River National Forest: 30

The cuts will not impact wildland firefighting positions — though the service has also struggled to fill those — but will limit crucial wildfire mitigation work like fuel reduction and the clearing of dead brush. The hiring freeze will also mean fewer people available to make sure campfires are extinguished and to educate campers on fire restrictions and safety.

“They are the fundamental strategies that keep our community safe,” Pogue said, noting that 90% of fires in Summit County begin as campfires improperly extinguished.

“In a pickle”

Like Summit County, Pitkin and Eagle counties also pay for Forest Service seasonal positions. The three counties fund the positions because they are critical to the communities, but the Forest Service does not have the money to do so. Those positions — despite being paid for — are also frozen for the foreseeable future.

Eagle County and towns inside the county spend about $160,000 a year for a crew of between four and eight temporary seasonal workers. The White River National Forest covers a majority of the county and is the most visited national forest in the country, said Marcia Gilles, the county’s open space and natural resources director.

The seasonal employees have conducted patrols in busy areas, helped clean up trash and educated people about how to be stewards of the land. Without Forest Service staff on the ground, Gilles expected more people breaking rules and a higher chance for wildfires.

“It’s really going to slip backwards a lot,” she said. “The lack of presence on the ground is really going to be felt.”

Eagle County is considering working with youth corps or nonprofits to complete some of the work normally handled by the seasonal employees, Gilles said.

All three counties are working with Forest Service officials to find alternative solutions that could help fill the workforce.

Pitkin County for at least the last four years has provided $125,000 a year to fund three seasonal positions to manage a busy river put-in, motorized recreation on Richmond Ridge and crowds on popular Independence Pass, Tennenbaum said.

“I know they’re in a pickle, but it’s a tough one,” he said of the Forest Service. “We’re happy to continue the conversations. We just ask they don’t make a unilateral decision.”

The Forest Service will consider exemptions from the freeze, though Nemeth said the bar for one is high.

“We also hope to have more hiring options in the coming year if additional funding becomes available,” she said. “As you see, we are working diligently to ensure that we are able to do this critical work.”

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.