Colorado Congressman Demands Answers on Forest Service Staffing

A Colorado congressman is demanding answers from the U.S. Forest Service about whether the agency is equipped to handle another summer season — following a year that saw roughly 3,400 employees terminated, a sweeping seasonal hiring freeze, and trail maintenance fall to its lowest level in 15 years.

On March 18, 2026, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) — the Ranking Member of the House Federal Lands Subcommittee — joined forces with Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, to send a formal letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz. The letter requests specific, quantified answers about the agency’s seasonal staffing plans before June 1 of this year.

“Seasonal employees play a critical role in the maintenance and stewardship” of public lands and forests, the letter states, according to Ark Valley Voice.

### A Year of Unprecedented Workforce Losses

The letter arrives after a damaging stretch for the Forest Service workforce. In early 2025, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative drove mass terminations at federal agencies — the Forest Service lost approximately 3,400 employees, or roughly 10% of its total workforce, according to Wyoming Public Media. Combined with deferred resignations and retirements, full-time staffing fell by more than 25% over the course of the year.

That workforce reduction compounded an already-problematic seasonal hiring freeze. With the exception of fire-specific roles, the Forest Service halted all seasonal hiring in 2025 due to budget constraints — a pattern the Outdoor Alliance traced partly to chronic underfunding and reliance on continuing resolutions rather than regular Congressional appropriations.

The consequences played out across the landscape. In Wyoming, 13 of the state’s 15 wilderness areas went through the entire 2025 summer without a single wilderness ranger on duty. Trail clearing, campground maintenance, permit processing, and public safety monitoring — normally handled by seasonal hires — simply didn’t happen in scores of ranger districts.

!An unmaintained hiking trail blocked by fallen logs in a national forest

Caption: An illustration of a neglected forest trail — the USFS Trail Program Status Report found a 22% drop in miles maintained in 2025, the lowest level in 15 years.

*Alt: An unmaintained hiking trail blocked by fallen logs in a national forest*

### Trails at a 15-Year Low

A December 2025 USFS Trail Program Status Report provided the clearest accounting yet of what the staffing crisis cost in practical terms. Trail maintenance across the agency’s 164,000-mile network fell 22% compared to prior years — the worst performance in 15 years. Some ranger districts lost their entire trail maintenance crews. The report documented “unpassable trails, unsafe bridges and negative environmental impacts” as direct outcomes.

One district manager put the stakes starkly: “it feels like we are on the verge of not passing anything on for the future,” according to reporting by the Washington Trails Association.

The urgency extends well beyond hiking inconvenience. National forests receive more than 130 million visitors annually, and the degradation of infrastructure poses safety risks across the system. AmeriCorps and Youth Conservation Corps programs that typically supplement trail crews were also eliminated in the aftermath of the staffing cuts, removing critical volunteer coordination capacity at the same time the permanent workforce shrank. Understanding how megafires are remaking American forests makes clear how severely understaffed crews affect the broader fire-risk equation in the West.

### Firefighter Readiness in Question

Among the most alarming findings is the departure of an estimated 1,400 wildland firefighters holding “red card” certifications from the agency during 2025. Red cards — formally known as Incident Qualifications Cards — certify that a firefighter has met the training and fitness requirements to work on fire lines. Their loss leaves the Forest Service entering another potentially severe fire season with a thinned front line.

Neguse and Huffman had previously called on the administration to exempt firefighters and essential seasonal workers from the 2025 staffing reductions. Those calls were ignored. Now, with the U.S. Forestry officials predicting severe and complex wildfire seasons becoming the norm, the lawmakers want to know whether the agency can course-correct in time. The parallels to broader workforce shortages impacting the forestry sector are hard to ignore: when skilled workers leave, they don’t return overnight.

### Four Specific Questions

The Neguse-Huffman letter poses four specific questions and asks for responses by June 1, 2026:

1. Sector-by-sector hiring targets — How many seasonal employees will each Forest Service sector hire, and by what deadline?

2. Geographic distribution — How will seasonal hires be allocated across regions, and how will the agency prioritize the highest-need areas?

3. Wildland firefighter numbers — How many seasonal firefighters does the Forest Service plan to hire, and is equipment adequate for the coming fire season?

4. Recruitment outreach — What specific steps is the agency taking to notify and recruit potential applicants?

The Forest Service had already announced plans to hire approximately 2,000 seasonal workers for summer 2026 — a welcome reversal after 2025’s freeze — with an application window that opened February 20 and closed March 3. But the 10-day window and the relatively modest total drew measured responses from stakeholders.

“There is more work than all of us can accomplish in the year ahead,” the Washington Trails Association cautioned in its public commentary, noting that 2,000 positions fall well short of restoring previous staffing levels.

### What’s at Stake for Colorado

Neguse’s district is ground zero for the consequences. It encompasses Eagle, Grand, Jackson, Routt, and Summit counties — some of Colorado’s most heavily visited mountain terrain. White River National Forest, one of the most-visited national forests in the country, falls within the region. A summer with inadequate trail maintenance, thinned fire crews, and reduced campground staffing would affect millions of visitors, local tourism economies, and the long-term health of forested landscapes that depend on active stewardship.

Whether the Forest Service’s 2,000-hire commitment is enough — and whether those hires can be deployed equitably to the areas with the greatest need — remains unanswered. That is precisely what Neguse and Huffman want to know before June.

!A Forest Service ranger station surrounded by dense pine forest in the Colorado Rocky Mountains

Caption: A depiction of a Forest Service district station in the Colorado Rockies — understaffed ranger districts faced the 2025 season with trail crews reduced to zero.