One of the things we elders like to do is support the younger folks in our professions. I’d like to give a shout-out to The Hotshot Wakeup (THW). I am a regular follower and subscriber. I encourage you to support him and subscribe, if only for a month or two, as you can afford.
Today he has a podcast titled
FS Chief Moore Calls Out Hypocrisy With Cost Of Living Increases. Says The Feds Are Not Doing Enough. FS Has A $740M Budget Hole.
During which he talks about rent increases for federal housing, rebates for some federal housing, and differences in salaries or geographic differentials (not clear which) between BLM and FS employees in the same building in North Dakota. It sounds like the problem(s) might be with OPM, but I’m sure it’s complex; if anyone can explain the details (or if the FS has something written about it), please share. Also what agency sets rents, and do they rationalize somewhere why a 100% increase is a good number?
I’m sure some folks in the FS have written a clear description of the problem(s) and possible solutions. It sounds as if the Secretary can’t influence OPM, but if they are the problem, surely someone can. I think we all would like to help if we could figure out exactly how and whom to try to influence. THW also included a clip from a recording by the Chief during which he sounds pretty frustrated.
Please, if you have access to clear(er) information, share it either below or via email.
Also THW mentioned something like “the FS owes more in leases than they are legally funded for”, I’d like to hear more details about that.
He also said something like the FS is something like 740 mill in the hole. Again, more details would be helpful.
The FS is probably in the middle of figuring out how to deal with it and doing the best they can. I hope after the worst is over, though, there is a publicly accessible lessons learned.
Finally, I would still like to see an explanation of the “new” budget structure and how it is different from the previous version, if someone has seen one or would be willing to write one.
Yup, things are not looking good in the FS – this is just a continuation from the “hiring assessment” where the FS did not see it coming that a 5.6% federal pay raise for FY24 coupled with a final FY24 budget that was less than FY23. The FS has blamed this on Congress not funding the pay raise (does Congress ever do that?) and on greater employee retention than expected. Who is minding the store?
Several hundred non-FS folks had been offered “soft” job offers and those were rescinded. The FS had been on a full-bore hiring surge that was abruptly ended. Filling existing vacancies with non-FS employees has been severely limited. Filling vacancies has now been limited in some cases to FS employees within the National Forest where the vacancy occurs or FS employees in the Region where the vacancy occurs. There is talk of FS employees doing force account work instead of contracting out work. There is also talk of shifting FS employees to work associated with Permanent & Trust Funds (like KV and BD) to allow those funds to be used more for salary. And who knows what all else.
I am still confused. BIL and IRA = massive infusion of bucks. But short term, so no permanent appointments. OK got that. That’s why big the bucks had to go to NGOs (but conceivably could have gone instead of term appointments or contracts). I think I’m getting confused by the difference between those IRA dollars being “short term” vs. “wrong color of $”.
And I too have heard that the folks hired tended to be in ROs and the WO, and not directly involved in getting work done (RO directors getting deputies?). Have heard it from a few people, not 100% sure. But if the idea was that BIL/IRA was short term, why fill those kinds of positions? I’m sure the FS has a story that makes this all make sense, and perhaps again if we write our questions in the comments I can gather them up and ship them to the FS comms office.
One question worth following up on. If it’s all these ‘structural’ type factors, why is this not happening to other Land Mgmt Agencies? The story you’re likely to get will fall on these lines: budget went down, retirements went down, cost of living adjustment from current admin was unforeseen. That said:
FS can’t hire, but BLM, NPS are certainly hiring. FS is bigger as a stand alone than either, yes, but BLM and FS both had decreases in enacted budget year over year from FY23 to FY24, but even if the FS went down more as a percentage, the degree to which FS seems impacted more. Why would the COLA his FS differently than other land mgmt agencies?
Something seems off
I agree. I’m sure that there is a corporate story (there always is) on all this. I will ask for an interview and try to get at it. Comparing BLM and the FS is always of interest.
Glad to see this is at least garnering interest. Predominant tune in agency messaging seems to be ‘victim of circumstances’ but it strains credulity to state that the FS has totally unique circumstances not faced by other agencies.
Right on track, “A”, very disappointing, this report, “who’s minding the store” certainly fits the bill! FS hiring, whether surge or traditional, is taking a hit from knee-jerk reaction to self-created budget woes. Positions critical for field (Ranger District) operations have been held up, creating more work for fewer employees, that I know for a fact! Holy crap, what’s happened to Big Green? I know where I’d start to clean up the mess, if were an incoming Administration…..
And how about rewarding for screw-ups? That old adage, in the form of a Forest Sup certainly came home to roost! Why is Congress aiding and abetting in the downfall of our Agency? Very, very sad……
I agree with you – some key positions have been vacant for 3 years now with rotating detailers on 4-month stints, which just robs Peter to pay Paul. There is no easy solution in sight. And accountability is definitely lacking. When BIL and IRA passed, I knew the FS was in trouble when the WO suddenly started hiring lots of new GS-13 positions.
I am not sure what you mean by Congress aiding and abetting…but it’s definitely very sad to see what is happening in the FS these days.
A. what kind of accountability are you talking about?
In the words of Jim Z “rewarding for screw-ups”.
I believe it is GSA who sets the rent standards, based on “local” rents – for Oregon that is Portland, not very local for most of the state. I am now retired, spent most of my career in remote stations where the determination of rent was a big deal.
The BLM gives a higher GS rating for the same work than does the FS – hence the difference in pay.
I re-listened to the Chief’s words and it sounded like the BLM had a “cost of living” differential. I originally thought it was a locality pay issue, but that is consistent across agencies. I am very puzzled.
Anonymous:”…talk of shifting FS employees to work associated with Permanent & Trust Funds (like KV and BD) to allow those funds to be used more for salary”
To my horror, I watched the KV Fund in PNW evaporate (from about $160 mill to near zero) in the couple years following drop of ASQ from 4 to 1 bbf/yr (~1994-96). Siuslaw went through a RIF and proactively moved many, many employees dropping out workforce from about 540 to 180 in 3 years. Our budget stayed in the black despite dropping from about $45 mill to $16. I watched as many other forests “played a waiting game” and (I haven’t proved this) mined KV to support the organization until it became obvious that the timber target was gone and the money was gone for good. Situation needed a good whistleblower. I spoke to RF about this – serious shrug,
Jim Furnish, I agree completely with your assessment; I was a new Ranger on the Ouachita and my first week the Region “removed” a million dollars from our KV. Of course it was held in the SO, and we still had 40 million for district use but it still burned me. It seems someone in the RO had not taken NFF out for that FY, and we were gouged…
Very high overhead rates on KV, BD and SSF were laughable. I was told the high rates paid for WO programs that had no way of funding, otherwise. Really? The Ouachita was still cutting lots of timber, and generating lots of income from timber sales – still is. But that’s the thing about Region 8, they have management and Rx burning figured out! It just seems wrong to take the KV in the first place. I learned in Region 6, back in the day, the why and how KV works….
I am with a non-BLM/USFS federal agency that received a chunk of BIL money to staff up and help make BIL happen. We hired quite a few permanent slots with our BIL money. I saw other offices try to hire term slots with BIL money and it did not work out well. The applicant pool was not the best, partly because there was a federal hiring frenzy going on, and none of the terms made it a year. However, because of all the BIL permanent hires in our office, we stopped hiring new staff about a year ago, even to backfill retiring seasoned staff. Fingers are crossed that we will lose enough staff by attrition to make up for all the BIL hires and be on budget. Our office will need a bit of a re-org once the BIL money runs out and I am concerned we may end up with a RIF.
Thanks for this info! May I ask you what parts of “BIL happening” your agency is working on?