I have seen job advertisements on X for Forest Service temporary positions (and earlier wildfire seasonals). Apparently the FS plans to hire 2000 nationwide.
From the Chief’s Desk:
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As we look ahead to the upcoming summer recreation season, I want to share an important update about our workforce and the support you can expect.
Today, we announced plans to hire up to 2,000 seasonal workers nationwide. This is a big step forward for our agency and the communities we serve. Last summer, many of you took on extra work without the usual seasonal help. We saw your long hours, creative solutions, and the way you supported each other and the public. Your dedication truly made a difference, and we are proud of how you showed up for your communities.
Because of the progress we made this past year toward fiscal solvency, we’re now able to hire our seasonal workforce in a more stable and sustainable way. These positions will help support active management work and keep our campgrounds, trails, and recreation sites open, safe, and welcoming—work that directly supports our mission and the gateway communities that rely on the world-class recreation our forests provide.
We have also taken steps to speed up our hiring process so seasonal employees can start earlier and provide support when it’s needed most. This year, we are focusing our recruitment within the communities we serve. Local residents bring invaluable knowledge, pride and a strong connection to the places we care for. We are excited to offer more opportunities for people who want to work close to home.
These recreation positions are in addition to ongoing seasonal fire hiring. Together, they represent a meaningful investment in our workforce and in the visitor experience.
If you know someone who wants to join us this summer—whether to start a career in natural resources, get hands‑on experience or spend a season working outdoors—please encourage them to apply. All applicants must apply through USAJOBS.gov. You can find more details about seasonal jobs and upcoming local recruitment on our website.
Thank you again for everything you do. This hiring effort is about supporting you, strengthening our recreation services and trail system, and ensuring we’re ready to welcome millions of visitors to their national forests and grasslands this summer.
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It does make sense to me to focus on local recruiting.. conceivably, people already have some kind of housing so that reduces stress on the employee. There is also the chance to build relationships within the community, possibly increasing trust.
The strangest year for temporary hiring I remember was during the Obama Admin, when our Civil Rights staff and a DRF had to review and approve every temporary hire in the Region. As I recall, no one was very happy about that.
Then there was last year, when “no temps” was a way to help with the $750 or $500 mill deficit. And speeding up (and maybe reducing wrinkles) in the hiring process should be helpful.
This is great news! – Over the years, I have talked with numerous line-officers who would prefer to hire from the local community. A positive development IMHO.
It’s about ding-dang time! Far too long the feds were more concerned with the DEI (what it really was) than having skills or local housing, or both. I remember how I had to explain reality to locals wanting to contribute their skills for national forest management. We had big old country boys and girls, familiar with that location and the tasks, just itching to go to work. I don’t remember other than less than a handful of times we were able to reach these locals.
Outreach for full-time employees is one thing; babysitting folks who have no desire to be there is something else! Back in the day, the Agency was scared to death of nepotism! I lost a summer chasing smokes in Alaska on a helicopter because my dad was a TSA in Arkansas! Really? And now we have married folk (to each other) on the same FLT/RLT’s and I know of no issues ever coming from that.
Right on, get some boots on the ground in recreation, doing the bidding of taking care of the people’s forests….
Well, there never was any requirements to know anything, to be a Forest Service temp. I doubt that will be changing, any time soon.
Ronon, nothing says Region 5 like the comment you posted, nothing!
Here is an OPINION I wrote for my blog on this subject. Good News Indeed. – https://quietwarriorracing.blogspot.com/2026/02/opinion-fs-announces-hiring-local.html
Without HR approval, the Resource Assistants and I did a workforce study for needed skills in the future in the Recreation program.
We came to the conclusion the Forest Service could always find college graduates with backgrounds in recreation.
BUT the critical gap was in Forest Technician series that could actually maintain and build water systems, build trails with mechanized equipment, and a host of other skills lacking in professional employees. AND there was NO easily found SOURCE of those variety of skill sets in the private sector.
We had to grow our own. The easiest way to do to that was to hire and nurture local hires through the Forest Service career path at the technician level.
This is great news. A great first step on bring back a skilled and caring Forest Service workforce.
Hiring locally – especially for temp seasonal positions – is not new for the Forest Service. The housing crisis has led Forests and Districts to hire locally for years. Simply put, a temp seasonal cannot afford to rent/buy housing in many areas and some places simply have no affordable housing available at all. Consequently recent job announcements often note “housing not provided” and this has by default led to hiring more locals who already have housing.
Additionally the hiring of 1039s reflects the corporatization of the agency workforce – fire people then fill their positions with less pay & benefits. In the Alaska Region, we recognized that we had recurring needs for skilled rec techs per Vladimir’s observation above. To retain skilled labor we created many perm seasonal jobs – seasonal jobs that were guaranteed each year, that provided health benefits and retirement and, after some time, allowed experienced seasonals to apply for internal merit positions and advance in their careers. We used a special Alaska hiring authority (ANILCA hiring authority) to hire over 100 locals across the Chugach and Tongass in 2024. Unfortunately, this authority comes with a 2-yr probationary period and all of these locals were fired in early 2025.
Now the agency is seeking to fill these positions as temp seasonals: with no job security, no health benefits, no retirement and no opportunity to apply for merit positions. Locally we call the temp seasonal salary “starvation wages.” I have heard they are having trouble getting people to apply as city, state, non-profit and private sector jobs offer similar or better pay/benefits and are more secure.
It is good that recreation is getting recognition and support. It is lamentable that the support is a pale shadow of what it once was/should be and in many ways reflects divesting from a professional workforce.
Kevin, I thought the probationaries were hired back after the court decided that firing them was unlawful. Did they not want to come back?
Ultimately, the Supreme Court stayed the lower District Court’s ruling requiring the Forest Service to rehire the fired probationary employees.
Here’s an AI-generated timeline of events:
February 11–14: The “Valentine’s Day Purge”
President Trump issued an executive order to shrink the federal workforce. Following this, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed agencies to “separate” probationary workers (those with less than 1–2 years of service or those recently promoted). Approximately 3,400 Forest Service employees were fired via a templated email, many of which cited “performance” as the reason.
February 27: First Legal Block
U.S. District Judge William Alsup issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), calling the mass firings “unlawful” and “invalid,” stating that OPM did not have the authority to order other agencies to fire their staff.
March 5–12: MSPB Intervention & Reinstatement
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a 45-day stay on the terminations. In compliance, the USDA (including the Forest Service) announced it would place all 6,000 fired employees back into “pay status” with back pay by March 12. Most were placed on paid administrative leave while the agency figured out a return-to-duty plan.
March 13: The Preliminary Injunction
Judge Alsup broadened his ruling into a preliminary injunction, ordering the immediate reinstatement of employees across several departments, including Agriculture (USDA). He ruled that the blanket “performance-based” reasoning in the termination letters was factually incorrect.
April 8: The Supreme Court Steps In
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 7-2 ruling to pause Judge Alsup’s reinstatement order. The Court did not rule on whether the firings were legal, but rather that the non-profit groups suing on behalf of the workers lacked “standing” (the legal right) to bring the case.
April 18 – May 2025: Correction of Records
While the mass reinstatement was halted, the court forced the USDA to send individual letters to the fired workers clarifying that they were not fired for performance or fitness issues, but as part of a “government-wide mass termination.” This was critical for the workers’ future employment prospects.
The final result: Most of the 3,400 Forest Service probationary employees remained terminated, though their records were cleared of “poor performance” marks. A small percentage of employees were rehired shortly after the initial purge because they were deemed “Mission Critical.”
The announcement about hiring 2000 1039s makes for a positive headline and talking point. What’s not being talked about is the fact that probationary employees are quietly being dismissed at the same time. The very same week the news was shared (internally) about 1039 hiring, we also learned that two highly respected and seasoned trails professionals on a forest in this region, the two with a combined ~30 years of experience in trails with the FS, are being released at the end of their probationary period under orders of Chris French. These are folks who were temps for many years, and then a couple years ago when the agency was pushing to convert temps to perm seasonals for the efficiency it brings, finally got a chance to get some job security and were hired into permanent positions via Schedule A.
This was at the time the agency was really pushing for creative ways to get people into positions with limited impact on the overburdened HR – Schedule A being one of those tools heavily promoted. The probationary period was always assumed to only factor into really poor performers. For known quantities like these folks, and so many others, I’m sure they nor their line officers batted an eye at the fact that they’d be under a 2 year probationary period. It seemed no-risk. Now these folks are out of jobs, and they don’t even get any compensation since it’s not a RIF, and we’ve lost 30 years of trails experience. Simultaneously, we’re hiring 1039s and the administration is getting lauded for their investment in the struggling trail program. These two employees are not the only examples – this situation is playing out around the agency with no fanfare and little public knowledge.
I find this extremely upsetting, but putting that aside, I have two ways to interpret the hiring of 1039s. The timing and challenges of this hiring process do not guarantee it’ll be a success. Are there people out there who want these jobs? Are they people we want in these jobs? Do they have the relevant skills and experience? We’ll see. But it doesn’t have the same appeal as it once did for many people and it’s a pretty limited pool. We also lack the staff on many districts to supervise 1039s. Will they all report directly to district rangers? That seems untenable. At least a couple forests I’ve spoken with said they weren’t sure they were even going to try to hire because they didn’t have anyone to supervise them. Others are looking at our already very limited fleet and additional fleet reductions that are coming and are having to pass on trying to hire the positions they really need because there won’t be enough fleet to get people out in the field. So the 1039 hiring announcement is no panacea.
My two interpretations…First, our agency heads do really care and are trying to do anything possible to improve what’s a really bad situation out here right now, even if it’s just crumbs and won’t solve a lot of problems. Second, the administration was looking for a splashy positive headline and knows that’s what people will focus on rather than those pesky details, like seasoned trails professionals losing their jobs and inability to actually effectively hire and use 1039s given the current desperate state of the agency. Maybe it’s a combination of the two. I for one am losing so much faith and every day I wish I could retire – I’ve never wished to be older so desperately! It’s a miserable time and we keep being told to hang on because more is coming – reorganization, major overhauls to G&A. I’m trying to see a bright spot in the 1039 hiring, but it’s dim…
Anyways, thanks for letting me vent 🙂