The Colorado congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., is calling on the U.S. Forest Service to continue partnerships with Rocky Mountain communities amid the agency’s hiring freeze on seasonal employees.

Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper as well as Colorado Representatives Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen penned a letter Monday, Oct. 28, to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack.

In particular, the letter takes issue with the Forest Service applying the hiring freeze not only to positions funded through the federal budget but also to positions supported by local funding. 

The Forest Service, which falls under the Department of Agriculture, did not return a request for comment Monday.

“We are deeply concerned by the Forest Service’s announcement about the agency’s budget shortfall and subsequent hiring freeze of all non-firefighting, temporary seasonal employees,” the letter states. “Colorado’s forests are some of the most visited in the nation and serve as critical infrastructure for Colorado.”

One-fifth of Colorado is comprised of U.S. Forest Service-owned lands. In places like Summit County, where the White River National Forest makes up 85% of the county, the federal government manages the majority of local lands.

Traditionally, seasonal Forest Service crews have provided on-the-ground work in many of these communities, from maintaining trails to patrolling campgrounds, educating visitors and conducting field work.

But U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced in September that the federal agency wouldn’t be hiring any seasonal workers, other than seasonal firefighting positions, in fiscal year 2025.

Moore explained in a call with Forest Service employees that the hiring decision was made as the agency plans for the “most conservative funding possibility.” The Forest Service is currently using the House Interior Subcommittee funding levels proposed for Fiscal Year 2025 to guide its hiring decisions. A spending bill that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives gave the federal agency about $500 million less than it requested.

Meanwhile, the federal agency has exhausted the supplemental funding it received through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Moore said. The increasing cost of living has also contributed to the budget crunch, he said.

“We just can’t get the same amount of work done with fewer employees,” Moore told Forest Service staff. “So, in other words, we’re going to do what we can with what we have. We’re not going to try to do everything that is expected of us with less people.”

But seasonal Forest Service staff are so critical that many Western Slope governments have dedicated local funds to support the federal agency’s seasonal staffing levels. Yet, across Colorado, the Forest Service has indicated that it will not be hiring even those positions supported by town and county budgets.

In Summit County, for example, voters in 2018 passed Ballot Measure 1A, known as the Strong Futures Initiative, approving an increase in local property taxes to help fund wildfire mitigation, as well as other local needs.

In 2023, almost $750,000 in taxpayer funds raised through the Strong Futures Initiative went toward the Forest Service’s seasonal wildfire mitigation and education in Summit County, with much of that money going directly to the federal agency to hire seasonal staff.

“The voters of Summit County passed (the Strong Futures Initiative) because the White River National Forest was so understaffed that these critical functions weren’t getting done,” Summit County Commissioner Tamara Pogue told Summit Daily News last week. “We’ve literally been paying for them because the federal government isn’t doing its job.”

But Forest Service regional press officer Donna Nemeth said that only two positions supported by the Strong Futures Initiative will be hired next summer because they are considered “fire series” employees. The remaining positions supported by those local dollars are “recreational technicians” who focus on fire prevention and education, and currently won’t be hired back next summer, Nemeth said.

Other local governments — including Eagle County, Pitkin County, Chaffee County and the towns of Vail and Aspen — have also provided local funds dedicated to supporting Forest Service seasonal hiring that could be impacted by the hiring freeze.

The congressional delegation wrote in its letter that the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado, “typically accepts millions of dollars from external partners to hire seasonal employees.”

“The current hiring freeze jeopardizes these partnerships, risking hundreds of jobs and leaving resources on the table,” the Colorado congressional delegation wrote. 

The letter also notes that some of the funds the Forest Service receives from local governments are generated through voter-approved tax measures that limit how the funds can be used. The congressional delegation says that some local governments have reached out with concerns that the Forest Service might use local funds for purposes other than what they’ve been dedicated to.

“In Colorado, the Forest Service developed these fees and partnerships in close coordination with local communities, who supported their implementation with the understanding that funds would be used for specific local recreation and visitation pressures,” the letter states. “Using the funding for other purposes would breach their trust.”

The Colorado congressional delegation in the letter urges Vilsack to find “creative solutions” to allow the Forest Service’s partnership with local governments to continue as the programs were intended.

“Extending the seasonal employee hiring freeze to external partnership agreements and user fees is unacceptable,” the Colorado congressional delegation wrote in its letter. “It will leave critical funding for the Forest Service on the table and Colorado communities without desperately-needed services.”