Steve Wilent

Press release from April 7….

A change of pace — not federal forest planning, but interesting: An article in Switchboard Magazine by Nathan Rizzuti offers an inside look at Louisiana’s oddest odd job: hunting for long-submerged cypress trees. “Cypress – taxodium distichum – goes by many names: bald cypress, red cypress, swamp cypress, gulf cypress. But if you hack away at a living cypress tree on state property, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry can, and will, serve you up to a 5-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $5,000. … Hamilton and Jack go for the wood that’s been dead a long time – sinker cypress, also commonly called deadhead logs. Sinker cypress is a term for mature cypress logs that were cut or felled anywhere between one hundred to five hundred years ago. A handful of factors determine a log’s value, but a large, mature stick can fetch a price upwards of $20,000,” he wrote.

From The Bulwark, a Substack blog….

Whiny, Entitled Federal Workers Demand Mold-Free Cubicles, Potable Water

The Trump administration’s government-wide policy proclamation of “remote work is over, y’all figure it out” has heaped an endless stream of indignities on the D.C.-based federal workforce. The latest of these: Remote-work employees returning to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mammoth South Building this month were faced with disgusting working conditions, including mold in previously empty offices, undrinkable water in drinking fountains, roaches in the bathrooms, and notices about an ongoing “asbestos project” posted in shared spaces.

A union representing some of these employees circulated a letter documenting many of these concerns this week, saying they were requesting the agency provide “clear and enforceable health and safety protocols,” “requests for enhanced cleaning protocols,” and “confirmation that assigned workspaces are safe before occupancy.”

One USDA employee now working out of the South Building told The Bulwark that he’d spent “about two hours on my second day scrubbing moldy surfaces with my own cleaning supplies from home.” He also passed along a few pictures, which I should probably apologize for including in a morning newsletter: If you’re squeamish or eating, maybe skip on by these!

Employees also report that some are skittish about speaking out about their conditions—reasoning that the new administration’s “solution” to such a problem would simply be to place the building up for sale and lay them all off.

The White House declined to comment, directing questions from The Bulwark to the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture also declined to comment.

“The Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and the Fish & Wildlife Service manage more public lands than the Parks Service. And their staffs have also been cut.” (Typo: It’s Park Service)

As a subscriber, I can pass this link to the full text….

Questions linger over what this year’s layoffs and ranger protests at the National Park Service will mean for travelers, who made a record 331 million visits to park properties last year. Adding to the confusion is the federal court ruling on Thursday that the firings were done unlawfully and agencies must rehire their cut workers.

The National Park Service’s parks, sites and monuments, however, are not the only public lands affected by the seesawing reports of staffing levels and budget cutbacks brought on by the Trump administration’s goal to trim government spending.

The Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the three largest managers of public land in the United States, also keep public lands accessible. The B.L.M. alone covers 235 million acres, or nearly one-tenth of the country. If these agencies lose many of their workers, who will be around to handle the influx of visitors as summer travel season gears up?

A Jefferson Public Radio article. Text and audio.

The Northwest Forest Plan lays out how to manage millions of acres across Washington, Oregon and Northern California. But the scientists behind the plan say it hasn’t been very successful. It cost thousands of timber industry jobs and failed to protect vulnerable species. Now that the government is reconsidering it, the scientists reflect on what was considered the best option 31 years ago.

A friend set this…

https://mailchi.mp/rangelands.org/rangeflash-feb2025?e=9ae042e2d5

Here’s a portion of the post:

SRM is also prioritizing immediate resources to support those impacted. Here are several ways we are helping to connect and engage our membership:

• Job Boards: SRM is offering free job listings during this time to help members connect to new opportunities. We encourage you to explore openings on the SRM Job Board as well as postings from partner organizations compiled here at the bottom of this email.
• Facebook Live Session: Join us next week for a Facebook Live session with SRM leadership. We’ll provide an update on our advocacy work with agency leaders and discuss how SRM is engaging on behalf of members. Watch our Facebook & your email for details!
• Zoom Meeting for Member Input: Also next week, SRM in conjunction with our Young Professionals Conclave will host the 1st of several private Zoom “Townhalls” exclusively for members to share their experiences. These insights will help build a clearer picture of how staffing changes are impacting the management of rangelands and those who depend on them.

  Three-part Townhall series: 

  • TALK THE TALK: February 27th at 6PM MT
  • WALK THE WALK: Details coming soon!
  • SRM IS HERE: Details coming soon!

I often work or interact with US Forest Service and BLM folks, as an employee of a nonprofit contractor for both agencies, as a member of a Resource Advisory Committee, as a member of a community wildfire defense partnership group, as a forestry instructor (folks who have come to my classes to make presentations or who have led field tours, including a forest supervisor, a silviculturist, an FMO, a Hotshot crew superindentant, HR officer, etc.), and as a private citizen (recreation, firewood permits). I have complained in the past about the agencies’ decisions and policies, but not about the people. By and large, the vast majority of the individuals I’ve worked or interacted with are highly professional, well educated, and, in general, do very good work on the public’s behalf.

Please share your experiences here, and focus on the positive. The folks who have been fired, as well as those who still have their jobs, need and deserve support.

Updates on firings of scientists at USGS, USFWS, USFS, USDA, etc.

In my nearly 30 years as a part-time forestry/wildlife instructor at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon, one of the most valuable and interesting experiences was over the 15 years or so that our Natural Resources Technology program hosted young students from the Central American Students for Scholarship (CASS) and Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED) programs, both funded by USAID. Each year about two dozen students from Central America, including Mexico and the Caribbean (Haiti, Puerto Rico), attended MHCC to earn degrees, t hen take their knowledge back to their countries and communities, and use them to solve real-world problems. These were young folks from rural areas. I remember one student who had never seen concrete until he went to the airport for the flight to the US. And another who asked about why flooding had in recent years damaged his family’s small farm fields — it was over-harvesting of timber in the mountains upstream and the lack of reforestation or any other work to keep soil from streams. The young man eventually started a tree seedling nursery and a planting program. Imagine going to a college in a foreign country when you speak little, if any, of the native language. That’s what these students did. They were warm, smart, and engaging young men and women, and I think I and MHCC’s Oregon students learned as much from them as they did from us.

Sad to see USAID dismantled.

First draft of a bill in the House, called the ‘‘Ending Presidential 5 Overreach on Public Lands Act’’.  The only provision:

‘‘The establishment or extension of a national monument may be undertaken only by express authorization of
Congress.’’

Note that it does not mention reducing the size of monuments.

I’m disgusted with the current Congress, but I think this bill is worth considering. The act has been in the news recently in Oregon. The Oregonian reported in December:

Gov. Tina Kotek just made one last plea to President Joe Biden to protect a stunning stretch of the state known as “Oregon’s Grand Canyon” before he leaves office.

Kotek wrote to Biden on Nov. 22, asking that he invoke the Antiquities Act of 1906 and designate more than 1 million acres of the 2.5 million acre area in southeast Oregon, including 15 miles of the Owyhee River, a national monument, a move that would limit ranching use and development. The letter is a follow-up to a similar request in August to protect the area if Congress failed to act.

This land deserves consideration as a monument, but such a designation is more properly one Congress ought to make. The Antiquities Act was never intended to be used in such a way.