U.S. Forest Service Workers Return to Woods, but Futures Uncertain

SEATTLE — Josh Watson and his chain saw are back in action. Last Monday, five weeks after Watson and thousands of U.S. Forest Service personnel were mass-fired by the federal Office of Personnel Management as part of the Trump administration's budget cuts, one of the Snoqualmie Ranger District's most skilled sawyers was back on the job.

Watson was among dozens of Forest Service employees in Washington who began a precarious return to work this week as the federal agency complied with orders from a civil service review board to reinstate fired employees.

While the reversal assuages some concerns that the depleted agency will be unable to fulfill basic functions like clearing trails and maintaining campgrounds, the Trump administration's plans to reduce the size of the government workforce yield little assurance about long-term job security.

"It's like no time passed at all," Watson said this week via phone after a day's work taking out hazard trees at the Middle Fork Campground in the Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest outside North Bend. "We're chugging along as if we are going to be able to keep our jobs, but everything is shrouded in uncertainty."

On March 5, the Merit Systems Protection Board issued a 45-day stay blocking the Trump administration's February move to fire probationary employees at the Forest Service. Unions representing federal workers claimed 3,400 personnel had been fired, though the agency said the figure was closer to 2,000. That decision terminated 125 personnel at the five national forests based in Washington, mostly in recreation departments, ahead of the agency's peak summer season. Trail work typically begins in April and runs through October.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture "placed all terminated probationary employees in pay status and will provide each with back pay, from the date of termination," a Forest Service spokesperson wrote via email. "The Department is developing a phased plan for return-to-duty. While those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid."

Six former Forest Service employees who were fired in mid-February confirmed to The Seattle Times via email or text message that they have been offered their jobs back, with some returning to work this week and others slated to return in the coming weeks. Some, but not all, have received back pay, according to rehired employees and a union steward for the National Federation of Federal Employees.

Union officials could not confirm how many Washington state Forest Service personnel have returned to their jobs but believe a majority of those who were reinstated have taken the offer. The Forest Service declined to provide information on specific numbers.

One fired employee who worked in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest told The Seattle Times he has taken a new job as a land surveyor. Watson estimated that three of his former colleagues did not return to their Forest Service jobs, and he continues to explore other prospects after five weeks of job hunting.

"I'm realizing I could make a lot more money elsewhere," he said. "There's looming tension in the air that a reduction in force is coming."

But overall, this week's confirmed return to work is a positive development, says Rob Arnold, the federal employees union's Pacific Northwest business manager. "The main concern was whether they're really back or left in limbo," Arnold said via phone Thursday. "If they're back at a work site, that's a big improvement."

The staffing turmoil at the Forest Service stretches back to September, when the Biden administration announced a hiring freeze on seasonal employees for the upcoming summer high season. Seasonal employees bolster the ranks of trail crews and other boots-on-the-ground functions during the agency's busiest time of year.

In light of the lack of seasonal employees, the whiplash of firings and reinstatements, and the Trump administration's long-term plans for a formal reduction in force at federal agencies, close observers are still skeptical that basic functions will be performed adequately.

"My gut is telling me that employees are going to be stretched thin, and I don't think morale is very good within the agency," Martie Schramm, a retired Snoqualmie District ranger, said via phone Thursday. "If I was one of the fired employees and all of a sudden got reinstated, I wouldn't have full confidence in having my job for the rest of whatever my tour of duty may be."

The Forest Service has seen significant leadership changes in the wake of the new administration, with several regional foresters retiring. Jacqueline Buchanan, who was appointed in December 2023 to oversee Region 6, which includes Oregon and Washington, remains on the job. But Forest Service Chief Randy Moore resigned on March 3 and acknowledged in his resignation letter that the personnel cuts were not directed by his agency.

"As part of a broader effort to reduce the size of the federal government, we parted ways with colleagues we worked alongside who successfully contributed to our mission, and who were valued members of our Forest Service team," Moore wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to Forest Service employees. "If you are feeling uncertainty, frustration, or loss, you are not alone. Please take care of yourselves and each other. I have been silent these last few weeks because these decisions are being made at a level above our organization, and I was and am learning about the changes the same time as many of you."

New Chief Forester Tom Schultz held a scripted dialogue with employees on March 13, in which he was asked about Forest Service cuts.

"I personally take responsibility for how we move forward together and collectively," Schultz said. "It's going to require all of us to pitch in to get some of this work done, whether people are at the forest level or at the district level. It's also going to be leveraging our volunteers."

The prospect of relying more on volunteer labor was one of the signals that Thomas O'Keefe, Pacific Northwest stewardship director for American Whitewater, picked up this week during a lobbying blitz in Washington, D.C.

O'Keefe met with high-level officials at the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, as well as Democratic and Republican members of Congress, as part of a coordinated effort by outdoor recreation advocacy umbrella Outdoor Alliance to inform the new administration about the federal responsibility for timber, wildfire and recreation — and reiterate that relying on volunteers still requires agency staff to coordinate the work.

"It's a step down from chaos and confusion" in the wake of the reinstatements, O'Keefe said Thursday via phone from Capitol Hill. "There's a lot more thoughtful discussion and consideration happening right now. But the result is still premature.

"The real data point: What sort of announcement is there on reduction in force and do we have evidence that announcement was influenced by the conversations we've had this week?"

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, issued a memo on Feb. 26 calling for "large-scale reduction in force" plans by March 13, though no such plan has yet been made public for the Forest Service.

O'Keefe's conversations in Washington, D.C., lead him to believe the next round of layoffs will target more managerial and desk-based roles, given the impacts of firing first responders, trail crews, wildland firefighters and backcountry rangers.

Watson's perception from his first week back at work is that leadership perceives "it was a mistake to fire all the boots-on-the-ground people."

As for what all this means as the peak hiking and camping season looms, the forecast remains as cloudy as a Northwest spring day. "It's still going to be a very challenging summer for the public and the employees," Schramm said.

© 2025 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.