{"id":24543,"date":"2024-12-07T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-looming-budget-cuts-nonprofits-will-step-up-work-on-san-juan-national-forest\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:55:19","slug":"with-looming-budget-cuts-nonprofits-will-step-up-work-on-san-juan-national-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-looming-budget-cuts-nonprofits-will-step-up-work-on-san-juan-national-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"With looming budget cuts, nonprofits will step up work on San Juan National Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The San Juan National Forest is implementing Stage 1 fire restrictions at lower elevations on Thursday, according to a news release. (Courtesy San Juan National Forest)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Expected federal budget cuts in 2025 will mean more fallen trees on trails, less frequent trash collection, and fewer people cleaning bathrooms and tending to noxious weeds on the San Juan National Forest next year. And although nonprofit partners will step up to help, the public is still likely to feel the impacts.<\/p>\n

U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced in September<\/a> that the agency would not hire non-fire seasonal employees next year in response to a \u201cbudget-limited\u201d environment.<\/p>\n

On the 1.8 million-acre San Juan National Forest, that means up to 32 temporary seasonal workers will not be brought on to join the permanent staff of 117.<\/p>\n

Those seasonal employees perform tasks including trail maintenance, campsite management, noxious weeds removal, and assist in field work in hydrology and engineering programs, said SJNF spokeswoman Lorena Williams in an email to The Durango Herald. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout seasonal employees from the Forest Service, access is going to be threatened,\u201d said Stephanie Weber, executive director of the San Juan Mountains Association. \u201cAnd the ability to open things like pit toilets and keep them clean to maintaining roads \u2013 that\u2019s what\u2019s at risk, and that\u2019s what really is prompting the need for the private sector to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weber\u2019s nonprofit organization is one of a handful of what Williams said are critical partners that work with the national forest to steward public lands.<\/p>\n

The Forest Service request $8.9 billion in discretionary appropriations from Congress for fiscal year 2025 \u2013 $2.6 billion for wildland fire management and $6.5 billion for base programs.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Sierra, a volunteer, prepares a tree for its next home on Dec. 9, 2023, at the San Juan Mountains Association Christmas tree lot in the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail Road parking lot. The tree sale is the organization\u2019s only large fundraising event and helps fund positions that will be in high demand next year, given the increased role the organization will play on public lands. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Currently, the agency is operating under a continuing resolution that funds the government through Dec. 20. A final 2025 budget deal has not been reached, but fulfillment of the agency\u2019s budget request does not appear likely. In June, the House interior subcommittee<\/a> recommended an appropriation of $8.43 billion.<\/p>\n

By nixing seasonal hires, the agency is tightening its belt in case of the worst, Moore told USFS staff members during the all-employee meeting in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that this decision will affect your ability to get some of that critical work done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Parroting that message, Williams said the agency has a responsibility to plan for the most conservative funding picture and that the safety and enjoyment of visitors remain top priorities.<\/p>\n

However, Moore said the agency\u2019s commitment to its employees was paramount, and reiterated that staff members will not be expected to pick up all the work of those unfilled positions.<\/p>\n

\"San
San Juan Mountains Association Ambassadors often interact with visitors to the national forest. The nonprofit had 40,000 visitor contacts last year. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe just can\u2019t get the same amount of work done with fewer employees,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n

In one strategic win for the agency, the Forest Service converted about 1,300 temporary employees into permanent seasonal status, including 15 positions on the San Juan that primarily handle trail maintenance.<\/p>\n

However, nonprofit leaders still have some concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely going to impact the high country,\u201d said Dani Gregory, president of the Southwest Colorado Cycling Association. The group helps maintain most of the Boggy Draw Trail System, which she said is unlikely to be affected.<\/p>\n

Already, the small crew of forest staff and SJMA workers who patrol the wilderness areas and provide stewardship guidance at popular sites have a lot on their plate.<\/p>\n

In 2024, SJMA had seven seasonal workers doing outreach work funded through the forest service; next year, the nonprofit is preparing for only three, although Weber said she hopes grants may help cover the cost of additional staff members.<\/p>\n

The number of downed trees and the presence of trash are likely to be two of the most obvious impacts to users of the forest, Weber said.<\/p>\n

SJMA is prepared to hire seasonal staff members who will clean pit toilets, she added. But the organization is not anxious to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really working hard to do everything they can to get folks out on the landscape,\u201d Weber said. \u201cBut in the absence of that, it is groups like San Juan Mountains Association. We\u2019re gonna be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also warned of a cyclical pattern of degradation in which poor conditions can be exacerbated by inadequate maintenance, creating \u201ca roulette wheel we don\u2019t want to be playing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsibility is going to be everybody\u2019s to take care of the place we love,\u201d Weber said.<\/p>\n

rschafir@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Access is going to be threatened,\u2019 warned San Juan Mountains Association director<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[896,28,1309,199,549],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-san-juan-mountains","tag-san-juan-national-forest","tag-united-states-forest-service"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78574,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24543\/revisions\/78574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24543"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}