USFS budget cuts

[balzaccom]

This is an excellent video on the coming financial crunch for the department that maintains and supervises our trails and wildernesses. Next year's budget calls for massive cuts in their funding.

https://youtu.be/d24PTLHEu_Q

And one place they are going to be cutting is in the hiring of seasonal trail crews---the people who maintain the trail systems we all use. So, yes, those fallen trees, strom damage, and even clean up of over-used sites will not happen on any appreciable level in 2025.

Sure, you can write your newly elected congressperson to complain. See what that does. But you can also volunteer where you hike, and even where you don't hike, to maintain the mountains you love. We've been doing this for years. Highly recommended.

 

[SteveR]

And one place they are going to be cutting is in the hiring of seasonal trail crews---the people who maintain the trail systems we all use. So, yes, those fallen trees, strom damage, and even clean up of over-used sites will not happen on any appreciable level in 2025.

Sure, you can write your newly elected congressperson to complain. See what that does. But you can also volunteer where you hike, and even where you don't hike, to maintain the mountains you love. We've been doing this for years. Highly recommended.

In Alberta parks and recreation areas, we've seen a shift from trail building and maintenance by paid crews, to volunteer organizations taking on more of that responsibility, with government agencies looking after infrastructure needs such as parking lots, outhouses etc. Fortunately, financial support is usually provided to assist these groups in the good work that they do. Personally, I think that it makes sense to have the user groups take on more of that role, although as they get more and more involved, it can mean having to hire paid staff to take some of the workload off of the volunteers. So, full circle in a way.

 

[wyethia]

Unfortunately, although I have seen a lot of work done by volunteers, there still needs to be someone with the training to make sure the work is done right. Enthusiasm can do a lot of damage. Yes, volunteer, but please also do write and do try to support the employees that do the surveys and other work to make sure the trails aren't damaging other resources. USFS was less than a skeleton crew on the ground before this; now it's like they are yanking out the femurs.

 

[balzaccom]

And you can add in the concern that the budget cuts have prevented the USFS from hiring the contractors who work with both rangers and volunteers to get such work done. That applies to fire reduction activities, trail work, etc.

I've signed up to volunteer for a couple of week-long trail crews this summer, but the USFS can't hire the pack teams to bring in tools and supplies for those crews, so they may not happen. Meanwhile, piles of slash are all over the forest, but unless the funds are released, they won't be burned this spring when it is safe to do so....

 

[wyethia]

Don't worry, they'll burn fine when the fire comes....arg. They got a few acres next to my town last year. Some of the local residents are bent out of shape because they couldn't afford to chip and ship to the nearest cogen. For some reason they also seem to think we won't have enough fire wood (ha!) I wish the money was there for chipping, but scattered big ass decks are better than stands of overgrown ladder fuels.