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U.S. Forest Service chief Randy Moore announced his resignation in a heartfelt email to the agency's 31,000 employees on Wednesday. Moore was the 20th chief of the Forest Service and the first African American to hold the position. He will retire on Monday, March 3rd after 45 years of employment with the federal government.
Moore's consoling message expressed both empathy for the staff as well as frustration. “The past several weeks has been incredibly difficult,” Moore wrote in his letter. Nationally, roughly 2,000 probationary employees within the Forest Service have been dismissed, though the precise toll of the Trump administration's downsizing efforts on the workforce remains unclear. Moore encouraged downtrodden employees to take care of themselves and each other, writing, “If you are feeling uncertainty, frustration, or loss, you are not alone. These are real and valid emotions that I am feeling, too.”
Moore shared his appreciation for the vital services provided by national forests and the agency's workforce, including providing drinking water to over 80 million Americans. “You and the work you do is vital to the American way of life and you are a valued employee who has performed admirably.”
Heinrich, Huffman demand answers about Burgum's energy order
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member Martin Heinrich and House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Jared Huffman sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding answers about his secretarial order to “unleash American energy.” Burgum's Secretarial Order 3418 was signed on February 3rd, and gave Interior staff 15 days to submit an “action plan” to slash regulations and rapidly scale up energy production on public lands. Heinrich and Huffman say Secretary Burgum is evading oversight since 22 days have elapsed since the order was signed and those plans have not been released publicly. “This delay suggests an attempt to evade Congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and accountability, fueling concerns that the administration is moving to undermine public land protections and sell our natural resources to the highest bidders in secret,” the lawmakers wrote.
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When the public thinks about these agencies they aren't viewing them through the lens of the federal government. They're viewing them through the lens of the resources they're protecting, and they think of them as people who are experts.”
