MISSOULA — The United States Forest Service (USFS) is facing budget cuts and as a result, the agency will not hire non-fire seasonal employees.
The decision may impact avalanche forecasting, campgrounds, and trail crews in Montana.
"It's indescribable really. Just the like exposure to the elements like that and being kind of totally self-dependent," shared former trail crew member Conrad Scheid.
For Scheid, his first hitch on a crew as a temporary seasonal employee was one to remember.
"Nine days in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. We went up Bad Luck Creek clearing trail. It rained on us." He continued, "We had a crew member who our crew leaders thought had appendicitis. But luckily it was just a tummy ache, but we had to hike her out and then we had another four days."
However, due to budgeting, starting in 2025 the USFS will not hire temporary seasonal employees unless they work in fire.
"Last year, we had roughly 100 temporary seasonals hired across this region of the Forest Service. Next year of course, that's what we're taking down to an anticipated number of zero," USFS Northern Region Deputy Regional Forester Dan McKeague told MTN.
The increase in wildfires over the past few years has made USFS officials take a serious look at where their money goes.
"Longer fire season, higher severity of fire, higher fire intensity, all of that leads us to needing to continue to prioritize funding that fire workforce and make sure we have enough workforce to meet our suppression responsibilities," explained McKeague.
However, those who have worked temporarily with the USFS note that this national decision will have ripple effects.
"I think these things are really interconnected, you know, if firefighters get a report of a fire somewhere and the trail's not clear, it's going to take them that much more time to get in there and start getting to work on that fire," Scheid shared.
While the USFS budget is still being finalized, they have added more permanent seasonal positions to their teams.
"It's a different kind of appointment that provides stability for both the employee, knowing they're going to return and get to work an additional season in perpetuity and stability for us in managing for the resource and for the National Forest and knowing we have this returning workforce " McKeague noted.
The USFS is figuring out how these staffing changes will impact Western Montana.
"Obviously, [temporary] workforce is an important contributor to how we get work done, particularly in the recreation and trails world," said McKeague. "Our ability to mitigate those is going to help make sure that local Missoulians and Montanans don't feel those impacts as we get into the next season."
The USFS is still working to finalize exactly how certain areas will be impacted. We will keep you updated as we learn more information.
