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The US Forest Service says forecasted budget cuts mean it will not hire seasonal employees over the next fiscal year, despite union representatives warning of high attrition rates for experienced firefighters.
The Forest Service has not revealed the extent to which it expects budgets to be slashed but has warned regional directors to look for ways to reduce spending.
“As an agency, we have a responsibility to plan for the most conservative funding picture, and these actions reflect that reality,” said Scott Owen, a spokesperson for the Forest Service, in a statement.
Agency chief Randy Moore informed Forest Service employees last week to prepare for a different environment than from “how we have been operating the last couple of years,” adding that staff will “have to think differently how we do our work.”
“We're doing what we can with what we can get," Moore added. The Forest Service has requested a budget of $8.9billion for fiscal year 2025, but expects the actual budget to be far lower. The requested budget was a $685.5million increase in budget from fiscal year 2024.
Union representing Forest Service staff warns of high attrition
But as wildfire seasons continue to become hotter and last longer, there are concerns about the increased risks. Fire seasons have historically run from July to October, but in recent years have often extended into November.
Moreover, ongoing budget constraints have left many agency employees frustrated over low pay, leading them to seek employment elsewhere.
The National Federation of Federal Employees, a union representing Forest Service employees, warned of understaffing brought about by budget shortfalls.
“We’re losing a lot of the most experienced people right now, and there’s no incentive to replace them,” said Andy Vanderheuel, a spokesman for the National Federation of Federal Employees.
Vanderheuel added that high attrition rates and understaffing could leave national forests more vulnerable to wildfires.
“We’re down a significant percentage of firefighters across the board, and then to just take more away, you know, when we’re still in fire season, it’s kind of a tough blow to everybody,” a union steward based in Montana told CNBC. “Your morale goes down.”
Budget constraints impacting hiring at Forest Service & beyond
The Forest Service has hired 4,000 new staff over the past few years, and in 2023 firefighters were given a raise as part of an order signed by President Biden for federal workers.
But according to Mark Lichtenstein, Budget Director at the Forest Service, his agency has struggled to deliver the raises due to financial constraints. “While that’s great for our employees, Congress, unfortunately, didn’t necessarily provide all the funding necessary to pay for it,” he said.
Jacqueline Buchanan, an agency forester, clarified to CNBC that some regions will still be able to recruit employees for critical roles.
“Right now, we’re in a place we haven’t been, where we’ve had this much of an anticipated shortage, and so it feels far more dramatic,” she explained. “Where we are focusing and where we need to maintain is our fire readiness.”
Elsewhere in the US, many other employers have reported budget constraints as an ongoing barrier to recruiting talent. According to a 2024 Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll survey, around 32% of companies reported plans to make no change to headcount in the second half of 2024, while a further 6% reported plans to reduce headcount.
33% of those companies planning to pause hiring or decrease their workforce pointed to budgetary constraints as the reason their company is not hiring, reporting their company does not have enough budget to hire right now.
