The budget woes mean the White River National Forest \u2013 where more than 17 million annual visits to its 2.3 million acres stir an economic impact of $1.6 billion in rural Colorado \u2013 will have about 30 fewer seasonal workers next year.<\/p>\n
Those seasonal jobs \u2013 which do not include firefighting crews \u2013 include fuels reduction, fire prevention and education, campsite management, public education, biological field work and trail maintenance and construction.<\/p>\n
The Forest Service recently converted 1,300 seasonal positions into permanent jobs, including 105 in the Rocky Mountain Region and 15 in the White River National Forest.<\/p>\n
Donna Nemeth, spokeswoman for the Forest Service\u2019s Rocky Mountain Region, said the agency is working with its partners \u201cto explore solutions to fill gaps where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nemeth said the continuing resolution passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in September has kept the agency funded through 2024 and the Forest Service is pursuing a federal process that would offer an exemption to the budget cuts projected for next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while the bar for exemptions is high, we take funding sources, the ability to conduct work through alternative or other means such as grants or agreements into consideration,\u201d she said in an email. \u201cWe also hope to have more hiring options in the coming year if additional funding becomes available. As you see, we are working diligently to ensure that we are able to do this critical work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Forest Service\u2019s 2025 request for $8.9 billion includes $6.5 billion for base programs and $2.4 billion for wildfire operations. The fiscal 2025 budget request is an increase of $658.5 million over fiscal 2024, with most of that increase in the agency\u2019s Wildfire Management Program. The agency supported 410,400 jobs in 2022 and contributed $44.3 billion to the nation\u2019s economy, with 69% of that coming from recreational activity, energy and mining development, logging and livestock grazing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Forest Service continues to be a good place to invest and will maximize every dollar invested into our agency, making every dollar work for the American people,\u201d Forest Service chief Moore told the U.S. House Appropriations Committee in April. \u201cThe citizens we serve deserve nothing less than to see the value of their money at work for their benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recreation is a growing force on federal lands. An estimated 159 million recreation visitors to Forest Service-managed land spent $11 billion in 2022. As that recreational visitor spending ripples through communities adjacent to public land, it supports about 161,000 jobs. The outdoor recreation economy reached a record-high $1.1 trillion in 2022, with public lands a cornerstone of the surging outdoor recreation industry\u2019s impact in rural communities.<\/p>\n
While a final budget has not been approved, early indications show the Forest Service will not get the $8.9 billion it requested. The House Interior Subcommittee in June proposed $8.43 billion for the Forest Service. Considering two cost of living increases the agency delivered to its employees this year, the increased cost of projects and the expiration of the one-time funding of $945.2 million in 2024 from the Infrastructure Investment and Job Act, the House\u2019s proposed 2025 budget is about a 4% decline compared with 2024.<\/p>\n The Senate Appropriations Committee in July proposed $6.45 billion for the Forest Service\u2019s base programs, similar to what the agency requested. In an Aug. 29 update to workers, Moore said \u201cprudent planning entails using the lowest\u201d of the two funding proposals.<\/p>\n In that August update, Moore also warned that cuts were coming \u201cin a potentially budget-limited future.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are approaching this challenge with great care \u2026 which means prioritizing the collective financial health of the agency and ensuring we can pay our employees \u2013 above all else,\u201d Moore wrote.<\/p>\n Lloyd Athearn is the head of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which regularly deploys more than 30 of its own seasonal workers every summer to rebuild and maintain the well-trodden trails leading to the state\u2019s highest peaks. Since his group hires its workers, he\u2019s not expecting much of an impact from the hiring freeze.<\/p>\n But Athearn has relied heavily on the help of Loretta McEllhiney, the Leadville-based manager of the Forest Service Colorado Fourteeners Program who everyone calls the \u201cQueen of the 14ers.\u201d McEllhiney retired in August after a 35-year career with the agency. And the Forest Service is not in a rush to fill vacant posts.<\/p>\n So the administration of federal funding for trail work and securing approvals for Colorado Fourteener Initiative trail projects, Athearn said, \u201cis going to be bootstrapped for a bit in this next year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill we run into challenges getting agreements and authorizations in place? If we are getting federal funding for our projects, will those payments be delayed? All the messages I\u2019m getting from Forest Service folks is that people are going to make those decisions happen,\u201d Athearn said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can guarantee you that CFI will be out in full force next summer, unaffected by the Forest Service hiring process,\u201d he said. \u201cWho knows, this might work out well for us. We could be the only people around hiring trail workers. This may get us access to more qualified people. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently joined with partners to distribute $3.7 million for 33 projects in Colorado, including elk research, fencing projects and habitat improvements in the Arapaho, Gunnison, San Isabel, San Juan and White River national forests.<\/p>\n Blake Henning, the chief conservation officer for the foundation, does not expect the Forest Service hiring freeze to impact these projects.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the work we provide funding to the Forest Service for, a lot of it is done by their fire crews,\u201d Henning said. \u201cThose people are going to help continue the projects we have granted money to. Talking with our partners in the Forest Service, my sense is that a lot of these temporary folks are related to recreational programs like trail maintenance and campgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n The Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado group \u2013 or VOC \u2013 turned 40 this year with plans to double its seasonal staff. Last year the group led 2,673 volunteers who spent 19,643 hours on more than 100 projects, which included maintenance on 21 miles of trails on public lands.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s spokeswoman said they were anticipating the hiring freeze will \u201csignificantly impact\u201d volunteer operations next year. This year the Forest Service sent VOC 21 applications for projects and the group completed 18 of those. For next year, the agency sent out 18 applications for work on Forest Service-managed land, said VOC spokeswoman Kimberly Gagnon.<\/p>\n \u201cWith fewer seasonal staff, we expect the Forest Service will need to scale back essential fieldwork and partner engagement efforts,\u201d Gagnon said. \u201cSo, this likely means prioritizing immediate visitor services over routine maintenance and infrastructure projects. VOC is preparing to offset this gap by \u2026 providing additional support from our volunteers and staff to keep critical projects moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n