by Linda Schmitt, Corvallis
Another remarkable reduction of services to the American public from your ignorant President. The American West is not even a blip on Trump’s radar although most Ravalli County residents voted for the guy.
We Democrats never described Forest Service jobs as “fraud, waste and abuse” but Trump thinks it is. You who voted for him can apologize to your neighbor for the job he just lost. The rest of us will be taking photos of the mountains before clear-cutting begins, another Trump legacy. And for the general public, carry your own Pulaski when you hike. You’ll need it.
In a memo dated July 24 from Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, “The Forest Service will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau, Alaska and an eastern service center in Athens, Georgia. The current stand-alone Research Stations will be consolidated into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Forest Service will retain the Fire Sciences Lab and Forest Products Lab – the former, vital for protection from forest fires and the latter, critical for assessing market development opportunities for timber and other forest products and related industries.”
The Daily Montanan explains, “The U.S. Forest Service, a key USDA agency, will phase out its nine regional offices primarily into a single location in Fort Collins.” And, “The Agriculture Research Service will also consolidate from 12 offices to the five regional hubs. And a series of support functions would be centralized, according to the memo.”
I know you didn’t expect this when you voted for him. We never imagined. Nor did you expect the slashing of Medicaid or the other DOGE disasters. But it’s now our problem – Republicans and Democrats both. Let’s find a way through this.
Bill Cavanaugh says
Oh stop with your fear mongering bologna and do a little research. This Administration has firmed up long term contracts with fire fighting companies rather than bleeding them out for on demand work as reported on KPAX. If your agencies like the NFF weren’t busy hiring people like “Director of People and Culture” we’d have more people actually doing useful jobs, rather than checking some inclusion ESG Box.