In the spirit of investigating what’s going on with the Keystone Agreements, I want to reiterate: we need to have a learning culture. We need to be able to ask questions and get answers We need to give multi-million dollar expenditures the same attention we would a GS-5 rolling a four-wheeler (yes, we would do a lessons learned in the latter case).
So, in that vein, I really like wild turkeys, we have them in our neighborhood. I also like the people at the National Wild Turkey Federation. I do think questions need to be asked about the role, in general, of not-for-profits in carrying out government activities.
(1) Joint Positions. For example, there’s a great job advertisement for a joint position with NRCS and NWTF in Wyoming to support private forest management. The duties sound just like an ordinary NRCS forester, without the federal employee benefits. It’s a term position. Again, as I’ve raised before with the seed orchard manager position in California, it seems to me that workers, professional, administrative, or technical, learn on the job and get better through time. I’m not sure that this is a BIL or IRA funded effort, so again the question comes up, do we care about learning? Or can’t we afford government employees- even on term appointments? Or?? I wonder (1) Why is this better than hiring feds directly? (2) What kinds of positions does the USG consider for these kinds of agreements? All? Some? Based on..? 3) it seems to me (at the Forest Service, not NRCS) that job permanence helps people stand up to the powers that be, based on their knowledge accumulated through time. Is this kind of knowledge still valued, or will academics (“the science”) be talking to line officers who just came from Congressional staffs with political science degrees? What is the importance of local on-the-ground knowledge when it comes to wildlife, fisheries, silviculture, fuels practitioners, reforestation, and how is that reflected in the recruitment and retention of expertise in the US government?
On another note, when we dealt with partnerships in Region 2, some Supes were concerned that we would always do what partners wanted, and potentially never do other important things, including what the communities wanted. I’m not so worried about that with NWTF, but it is an idea worth considering. When the push is to partner, perhaps the easiest thing for FS folks to do is go with the flow and possibly hand over prioritization of projects to people at non-profits who are less readily accessible to the public.
(2) FS Withdraws Job Offers for Non-Firefighters. From an E&E News story:
As many as 350 pending job offers for positions not directly tied to fighting wildfire may be withdrawn, the Forest Service said, and future hiring through the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act will be more tightly controlled through Chief Randy Moore’s office.
In a June 27 memo to employees, later posted on the agency’s website, Moore cited a tight budget for the current fiscal year, in which Congress cut spending across federal departments. But he also noted a more optimistic scenario: The Forest Service isn’t losing as many employees to normal attrition as it would typically expect and thus doesn’t have as many slots to fill.
“To stay within budget and continue to deliver on our core mission, we must implement tighter controls on both internal and external hiring,” Moore said.
Moore outlined the new policy in the web posting, adding that hiring for positions such as aviation inspectors — which may not be fire positions but are related to firefighting — remains a topic of “deliberate conversations.”
The jobs most affected are external hires in permanent, non-fire-related positions. Internal hiring, which had been limited, will resume, Moore said, as officials consider career advancement “very important.”
Moore said the Forest Service will move ahead with 157 tentative job offers in positions such as line officers, law enforcement officers, resource assistants and “some hard-to-fill mission critical positions,” for example. And officials will lift a pause in hiring within the agency that was imposed in April.
In addition, Moore said, people hired through student employment programs will be allowed to convert to permanent Forest Service positions.
The pullback on hiring is the latest in an extended set of personnel challenges for the Forest Service. Moore warned employees in April that a strategic hiring assessment was necessary, and he’s repeatedly outlined to lawmakers the agency’s uphill climb to fill positions both for firefighters and non-fire employees.
In 2023, Moore told county officials at a conference that hiring for non-fire positions couldn’t keep pace with long-term attrition. More than 8,000 positions were lost over a decade, and Moore told the National Association of Counties he aimed to hire 4,000 people to address the gap, relying on contractors and local governments to fill remaining needs.
A tight job market at the time was to blame, Moore said.
In his latest memo, June 28, Moore said attrition overall has improved, from a typical level of 9 percent down to less than 5 percent.
“On one hand, we should celebrate that our staff are staying because they feel connected to the mission, they feel heard, and they are committed to improving our nation’s forests and grasslands,” he said.
As for me, I don’t think I’d be having “deliberate conversations” about ..aviation inspectors. Also I’d think prioritizing work itself and people needed to get it done (rather than new people in non-competitive programs) might work better.
(3) The Complaint Heard Round the Region at Least.
The Hotshot Wakeup discusses this email kerfuflle in his podcast this week. I always thought careful consideration of when to hit “reply all” is an important work skill. The basic story is that HR sent out an email asking (?) people to (ask their Congressfolk?) to support the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act. Someone was disgruntled about why firefighters should get it, explained and replied all. I don’t have any of the emails.