US Forest Service Chief asks wildfire employees who took voluntary resignation to ‘come back’
Colorado officials are among those who have raised concerns that staffing cuts make the national forests less prepared for wildfires
Ryan Spencer/Summit Daily News
Just months after the Trump Administration gave federal employees the option to voluntarily resign, the U.S. Forest Service is asking those who resigned to return to work for the wildfire season.
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said in a video posted to the Department of Agriculture website on Thursday that employees who took the Trump Administration’s deferred resignation offer should be encouraged to “come back” for the wildfire season.
Schultz’s comments come as officials around the country, including in Colorado, have raised concerns that the mass layoffs and voluntary resignations of federal employees could impact the Forest Service’s ability to respond to wildfires.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, his administration has sought to reduce the size of the federal workforce, including through the deferred resignation program, which gave federal employees the option to resign while continuing to be paid and receive benefits through September.
Nationwide, more than 4,000 Forest Service employees accepted the federal government’s resignation offer, according to POLITICO. The Trump Administration also fired an estimated 3,400 Forest Service employees in February.
In the “Chat with the Chief” video posted Thursday, Schultz talks with Kelly Cornwall, a district fire management specialist in Utah, about the Forest Service’s wildfire readiness. Cornwall asks Schultz, “We’ve heard a lot about the workforce reshaping. What changes do you see that (having) for the fire season?”
Schultz responds that he’s “not expecting a whole lot of changes at the district level and at the forest level.” But he admits that the deferred resignation program “did have some impacts, though.”
“I guess my encouragement at this point is to reach out to those folks and assess their interest and availability, and then encourage them to come back and be available for this season,” he said.
The Forest Service did not return a request for comment Monday that included questions about how many employees who accepted the deferred resignation option were “red card” holders qualified to work on wildfires.
The Forest Service office in Washington, D.C, has also not returned a records request the Summit Daily News submitted Feb. 13 seeking information about which employees in Colorado’s White River National Forest accepted the deferred resignation option. The White River National Forest is the most visited national forest in the United States.
Earlier this month, the Forest Service released guidance for deferred resignation program employees interested in taking wildfire assignments. The guidance outlines how those who accepted the Trump Administration’s resignation offer can temporarily return to active service to support fire operations.
Even before the layoffs and voluntary resignations, Colorado mountain towns had concerns that Forest Service staffing was lacking. Last October, towns across the Western Slope voiced frustration over a Forest Service hiring freeze on seasonal employees that occurred under the Biden Administration.
One-fifth of Colorado is comprised of Forest Service-owned lands. In places like Summit County, where the White River National Forest makes up 85% of the county, the federal government manages the majority of local lands.
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