What’s Going on With the Shutdown and Recreation? Who is Getting Paid and Who Not?

Interesting story about what’s going on at the Forest Service in NOTUS today..

I’ll start with this ..

Reorganization vs. Struggling to Get the Job Done in the Meantime

On top of the field work that’s missing, the Department of Agriculture, which houses the Forest Service, is starting a massive reorganization over the next year. While that’s ongoing, as USFS announced to staff and Hill offices in October, it will consolidate the regional managers across its nine regions, creating wider realms of jurisdiction for fewer regional chiefs.

The story I heard via the Retiree Information Network was that after the buyouts, the FS had many gaping holes of expertise.  For example, I heard that some Regions were left with no employees in certain expertise areas.  The idea would be to share scarce expertise resources across Regions for the time being, until the Reorg takes place.  Personally, it always seemed odd to me that R-6 had four or five forest geneticists, for example (although other than one were assigned to Areas) and some Regions (including 2) had zero. And perhaps Regions can do fine without forest geneticists, but maybe not so much a recreation special uses expert, nor coal mining experts.    This also goes with allocating scarce SES resources across the agency better, helping to organize and structure getting the work done.  The individuals in the Regions would not be moved nor their supervisor changed, just that their program of work would include extra-Regional work. But I also heard that these ideas would not be implemented prior to the end of the shutdown, because the shutdown in itself if a big struggle to keep work going and funded..

Who is Still Working and Who is Getting Paid?

Waves of budget cuts, layoffs and buyouts in the last year have decimated the U.S. Forest Service, but the shutdown is testing its staff on a whole new level. The forests, along with national parks, remain open to the public, meaning recreational employees and visitor center staff are still cleaning bathrooms, answering phone calls, and handing out maps. Four weeks into a government shutdown, those that are left are still working – and many have yet to see a paycheck.

Technically, I’m not sure that the “budget” was cut.  First, the FS hired more people with BIL and IRA bucks than they could afford based on usual approps, that’s why there were no temps last year.  Does not having additional funding mean that the budget is cut? Plus we don’t have a 2026 budget or even a CR.  So I think it’s more complicated.  Also, some visitor centers are closed, so that’s confusing also. And some people still working are getting paid (at least fire folks) because The Hotshot Wakeup is closely tracking when the funding sources will run out.

It’s interesting that this quote is about restroom cleaning.. because when the Chief spoke with us retirees he talked about how that was one of the most important services that the public sees.  On my recent trip, I saw restrooms with signs saying that they wouldn’t be cleaned or toilet paper provided; and restrooms that were in good order.  Were some on contract and some done by employees? Different priorities or funding streams for different forests? I’m interested in others’ observations.

Was the Budget Cut or did the FS Overspend or Both?

The former employee based in Oregon who asked not to be named as she is still looking for a job told NOTUS that even before Trump’s downsizing, the USFS was severely understaffed. Congress cut its budget in 2024, and many temporary workers who spend summers working on trail crews and in other roles were told their jobs wouldn’t exist the next year.

Understaffed.. that’s certainly in the eye of the beholder. But I think some things in some places may have been overstaffed, some appropriately staffed and some understaffed.  I remember folks on Districts complaining that the IRA funds were used, in some cases, to bulk up Regional staffs.  And we get back to “does every forest need its own..?”

I think again, the story is more complicated than the Congress cut the FS budget,  the agency had a $750 mill shortfall (or maybe different numbers) and also gave away (never got the numbers but hundreds of millions) to various NGOs.. that never happened before.

Sure, it has been one bad thing after another for the Forest Service, but not all of it was the Trump Admin nor Congress.  Right now, though, it is clearly Congress who has caused the shutdown and only Congress can end it.