Montana Worries as Forest Service Layoffs Backfire

You cannot make this up. The Trump administration recently gave some Forest Service employees the boot. Only to be embraced back with open arms. It’s like tossing your snow shovel in the trash can in February with the thought that winter might be over. Well guess what? WINTER NEVER ENDS!

If you’re a Montanan who pays attention to trees and fire season, this whole mess should sound a few alarm bells. The cuts included timber management staff and disaster recovery teams (a.k.a. the people who help keep our forests from igniting and becoming kindling.) And now the administration is quietly moving to win some of them back.

Why? Since it was a pretty bad idea to fire them in the first place. Who knew? (Answer: Every one of us Montanans who don’t enjoy choking on smoke every Summer.) Layoffs were in the air and vital projects in progress had been pushed aside, which leads us to wonder how we’re going to handle forests and combat fires when things heat up.

Fewer boots on the ground, fewer controlled burns, less tree thinning, and a hell of a lot more risk when fire season rolls around. We’ve seen what happens when our forests are not well tended, and it’s not pretty.

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So, what’s next? Maybe some common-sense appointments before we are all standing around with garden hoses come July. In the meantime, let us hope those responsible can correct this. For the sake of our forests, our homes, and our sanity.