This post comes with big thanks to our friends at Washington Trails Association who invited us to borrow heavily from their similar action alert!
Almost 25% of land in Oregon and many of our most beloved trails are managed by the U.S. Forest Service! This includes significant portions of many of Oregon's Signature Trails.
A funding crisis is putting Forest Service trails, campgrounds and other types of outdoor recreation at risk. The U.S. Forest Service is currently making major cuts to its workforce that will reduce its ability to maintain trails, clean trailhead restrooms, collect trash and provide essential services.
The Forest Service has less money than it needs to cover its expenses and pay its staff. In fact, the agency has a deficit of more than $700 million. In response, the chief of the Forest Service announced that the agency will not hire any seasonal positions except those that respond to forest fires. This means cutting more than 2,400 seasonal jobs, including trail crews, wilderness rangers, biologists, and many other types of temporary staff.
It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain Forest Service trails. Thousands of volunteers with Oregon's many trail stewardship organizations, keep many national forest trails open. But volunteers are not the only ones in the woods fixing trails and clearing obstacles. Forest Service trail crews spend their summers in the backcountry. Each year, those seasonal employees accomplish almost half of the trail maintenance completed on national forest trails.
When you hike, bike, ride, or paddle on national forest lands next summer, you will feel the absence of Forest Service seasonal staff. You will likely see trails and even roads blocked by logs. You may notice small landslides and debris flows that bury your path or find trails covered in thick brush or closed due to safety concerns. At trailheads, you may find unsanitary bathrooms.
Why is this happening?
Since the 1990s, the Forest Service has lost about 8,000 jobs nationally, including about half of its trail crew and forestry technician positions. Funding for the agency has not kept up with rising costs. Recent events have taken the agency in the wrong direction.
In the last few years, costs at the Forest Service have gone up but federal funding hasn’t. For instance, in 2022 and 2023, federal workers received cost of living adjustments to lift real wages to match inflation. However, Congress did not pass bills to increase funding for salaries and expenses at the U.S. Forest Service to pay for those wage increases.
The Forest Service added employees as the agency works to implement projects that reduce the risk of forest fires, using funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, but that funding was short term and is not available moving forward.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a spending bill that would cut funding for the Forest Service in 2025. This bill has not become law, but the Forest Service is making cuts to prepare for a possible reduction in resources.
The result of all of this is a depleted agency that is making drastic cuts to its operations and searching for ways to save money in all of its non-fire-fighting programs.
How can you help?
Congress has not yet passed bills to fund the government in 2025. There is still time to avoid the further budget cuts and address the Forest Service funding crisis.
Tell Oregon's congressional delegation why national forest trails are important to you. Take action today!
In 2025, we need Congress to reject the Forest Service funding cuts proposed by the House of Representatives. This year and moving into the future, we need increased investment in the Forest Service to support staffing including seasonal employees.
Calling members of Congress is a quick and powerful way to make your voice heard.
Staff who work for elected officials keep track of the calls they receive and consider their constituents' views when they decide what challenges to prioritize. A single call can elevate an issue. All members of Congress benefit from hearing that Oregonians care about public lands and want the Forest Service and recreation to be well funded.
It will only take a few minutes of your time to share your support for USFS trails!
Recommended Talking Points
Hi, my name is [your name], and I’m a constituent calling to ask that Congress increase funding for the Forest Service in 2025.
I’m asking to fund the Forest Service at the levels in the Senate’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, not the reduced funding recently proposed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Cutting funding for the Forest Service and its staff reduces access to the outdoors and our public lands and threatens to close our Forest Service trails and campgrounds. Getting outside benefits our economy, our health and it’s personally important to me because [your message].
Thank you for taking my call today.
Pleading that the Forest Service receives monies to keep the recreation sites and trails open. It is so important that people are able to enjoy camping, hiking and horseback riding. As a Back Country Horseman I enjoy riding the trails and we do our part in keeping them clear. It is important that we all have access to enjoying the wilderness.