February 19, 2025 12:06 PM UTC

DOGE Could Let Colorado Forests Burn, Climbers Die, Potties Fester

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As Jason Blevins reports for the Colorado Sun, the latest victims on the chopping block of President Elon Musk Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency are some 150 U.S. Forest Service employees based in Colorado, who like the hundreds of National Nuclear Security Administration workers casually pink-slipped last week, some twentysomething former hacker or Bitcoin Richie Rich with more spare time than sense decided the taxpayers no longer needed:

A Valentine’s Day slashing of federal jobs by the Trump administration has eliminated more than 150 federal workers who help manage more than 24 million acres of public lands in Colorado…

No one with any of the agencies is commenting on the record, citing word from the very top that remaining employees may not publicly discuss the losses. All inquiries were forwarded to regional and national communications offices, which traditionally do not respond quickly.

“Paranoia is high right now,” said one Forest Service worker who said they would be fired if they spoke publicly. “Every single one of these workers is an on-the-ground employee in the field. Most of them are paid by state, local and fee money. I don’t know what’s going to happen after this.”

As the Denver Post’s Elise Schmelzer reports, the mass firings at the Forest Service appear to be just as chaotic and poorly considered as the firing of nuclear security workers last week, and some of the eliminated positions could be un-eliminated. But just like we learned last week, disrupting the lives and careers of thousands of people even briefly has consequences:

The freeze caused panic among parks advocates, though reporting by The Washington Post on Friday indicated the Trump administration could reinstate some seasonal jobs even as it fired thousands of full-time probationary employees. Plans for reinstating seasonal employees had not been publicly announced by the federal government as of Monday afternoon.

The freeze came at a critical point in the agency’s monthslong hiring process for seasonal employees, said Tracy Coppola, the National Parks Conservation Association’s program manager for Colorado. The agency generally sends job offers in January and February, which gives new hires time to line up travel and housing for the busy season, which begins in the spring.

Even if hiring resumes, Coppola said, the delay could impact how many employees the agency can attract.

Axios’ Alayna Alvarez with the bottom line:

Why it matters: State leaders warn the cuts — part of a nationwide reduction of 3,400 Forest Service and 1,000 National Park Service jobs — will weaken wildfire prevention, search-and-rescue efforts and maintenance of campgrounds, trails and restrooms.

Officials with the Association of National Park Rangers said slower emergency response times, park closures, reduced hours and educational programs, and more litter are imminent. [Pols emphasis]

And that’s if we don’t have another catastrophic wildfire season in Colorado this summer. The Colorado Sun’s Elise Schmelzer:

Colorado fire officials are concerned that the uncertainty over a federal hiring freeze implemented by President Donald Trump will have detrimental impacts on the state’s wildland work force ahead of peak wildfire months.

The freeze, which stalled the hiring of some seasonal federal firefighters, along with last week’s elimination of more than 150 federal workers who help manage more than 24 million acres of public lands in Colorado, could leave the state’s firefighting workforce unprepared, local fire chiefs told The Colorado Sun.

If there’s any issue that should unite Coloradans from the suburbs to the hinterlands, it’s protecting the state from increasingly devastating wildfires exacerbated by the human-caused climate change the new administration disregards as official policy. It’s a situation where the danger Coloradans are being exposed to is frighteningly obvious, but may not be fully understood by the public until the consequences take hold. The “imminent” offense of unkempt restrooms in National Parks will pale in comparison to devastating wildfires that could have been prevented or mitigated–a hard lesson in mismanagement that we’d greatly prefer the state not have to learn, especially since Colorado didn’t vote for any of this.

But here we are. DOGE is no longer that cute little shiba inu in the meme. Don’t ever complain about the wolves again.