The nearly 2,400 jobs that won't be filled this year range from maintenance to research to avalanche forecasting
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** How the Forest Service hiring freeze is impacting the West
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Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Flathead National Forest in Montana, U.S. Forest Service via Flickr ([link removed])
The U.S. Forest Service announced ([link removed]) last month that it would not be hiring seasonal employees due to budget shortfalls, and Western states are already feeling the impacts. The nearly 2,400 jobs that won't be filled this year range from maintenance of campgrounds, roads, and trails to field research. Also impacted: 14 avalanche centers that provide avalanche forecasts that winter outdoor recreationsts rely on, but may have to scale back staffing due to funding shortfalls.
In a letter ([link removed]) to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, both of Colorado's U.S. senators and two members of Congress expressed further concerns about the extension of the hiring freeze to include seasonal staff hired through external partnerships with state and local governments and other community partners, who often contribute money to hire seasonal employees to carry out the partnership agreements. In many cases, the funds contributed by local governments come from user fees or from voter-approved taxes for specific purposes.
"In Colorado, the Forest Service developed these fees and partnerships in close coordination with local communities, who supported their implementation with the understanding that funds would be used for specific local recreation and visitation pressures," the letter explains ([link removed]) . Diverting these funds to other purposes, and not hiring agreed-upon seasonal employees to carry out the agreements, would be "unacceptable."
** Quick hits
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How the Forest Service hiring freeze is affecting the West
Summit Daily ([link removed]) | Montana Free Press ([link removed]) | Jackson Hole News & Guide ([link removed]) | CPR News ([link removed]) | Outside ([link removed]) | Sunset ([link removed])
Wyoming backs Utah's big public lands grab
Land Desk ([link removed])
BP still sees 'potential to grow' in oil and gas
New York Times ([link removed])
Mining sector struggles to meet the green moment
E&E News ([link removed])
WY legislature won’t restrict utilities condemning land for green energy projects
Cowboy State Daily ([link removed])
Houston company tapping into Utah’s geothermal power potential
KSL ([link removed])
Opinion: Colorado can’t afford Project 2025’s economic and climate damage
Forbes ([link removed])
Opinion: Acidic mine drainage haunts Western rivers
Writers on the Range ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” This policy will result in a burgeoning of the trail maintenance backlog, both through lack of Forest Service staff attention to trail maintenance, but also through the loss of connection and relationships with partner organizations.”
—Mike Passo, American Trails, Outside ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@kobukvalleynps ([link removed])
Spooky season is here!
Jack-o-lanterns may be all the rage, but here in the arctic it's terrifying just how long it takes organisms to grow. It may not be a pumpkin, but the bright orange elegant sunburst lichen (rusavskia elegans) is sure a special treat for caribou relying on lichen to survive the harsh winters.
These hardy lichens grow on rock faces at the scary rate of 0.5 mm a year; roughly the thickness of your fingernail! After a century, their pace of growth can slow even further.
Next time you're out and about, take some time to slow down and appreciate these intricate and ancient little organisms.
NPS Photo / Dana Sharp: white, black, and bright orange lichen colors the face of a gray rock.
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