USFS will fire roughly 3,400 federal employees

[Pivo]

The U.S. Forest Service will fire roughly 3,400 federal employees across every level of the agency beginning Thursday, according to two people familiar with the plans.



https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/1 ... r/politico

[Jim]

Would have made far more sense to go after dead wood, upper management, the people who don't really get out into the field, and those who are near to retirement and at the top of their pay scale.

Forest Service employees in probationary periods are more likely to be the ones doing field work, such as moving timber sales and helping to mitigate wildfires, than their more senior counterparts.

Cut the GS-11s or cut the GS 5s? Seems that was pumpkin backwards.

Oh, but don't worry:

Public safety employees at USFS are exempt from the firing. While firefighter jobs appear to be unaffected, other roles that support wildfire prevention are being cut. Employees who work on road and trail maintenance, timber production and watershed restoration are also impacted.

This really is just a stupid idea.

In 1995, wildfire was about 16 percent of the Forest Service budget. A decade later, it took up more than half of it.

https://www.opb.org/news/article/wildfi ... n-portion/ that article is already 7 years old.

The six worst fire seasons since 1960 have all occurred since 2000. Moreover, since 2000, many western
states have experienced the largest wildfires in their state’s history.

An image shows that 67% of the FY 2025 budget is fire suppression.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/f ... Report.pdf

Average annual federal spending on fire suppression totaled $2.5 billion (in 2020 dollars) between 2016 and 2020.

https://www.cbo.gov/publication/58212

Actually, I'm on record stating that I think water utilities should have to pay to manage the watersheds they depend on. SRP, for example, should probably double or triple water rates to municipalities to use that money to pay for prescribed fire and mechanical treatments of the watershed. So too, should the CAP charge increased rates to then use money in the Upper Colorado Basin. People forget that the FS was started to protect watersheds. It's part of why the Inyo NF exists.