LAKE TAHOE, Calif. / Nev. – President Donald Trump’s push to slash federal spending prompted the termination of 3,400 USDA Forest Service employees, followed by their subsequent temporary reinstatement by order. While these workers sit in limbo, lawmakers consider new policies to advance forest health and resilience.

“We have this dichotomy of our representatives saying that ‘I support our forests,’ but then at the same time cutting all the staff and funding for our forest service,” 13-year (2004-2017) Forest Service employee Nadia Tase says, who worked on fuels reduction projects in the south shore and around the lake.

Political leaders like Representative Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) are sponsoring new bills that attempt to address forest health. Kiley is co-sponsoring the Fix Our Forests Act which seeks to increase resiliency to catastrophic wildfires, protect communities by expediting environmental analyses, reduce frivolous lawsuits, and increase the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.

However, Tase questions where implementing agencies will find the staff to actually complete that work. That point was also raised by Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in a March 6 legislative hearing on the Fix Our Forests Act, where he mentioned the actions taken right now are counterproductive.

That concern has temporarily been abated with an order issued March 5 by the United States Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The order calls for a 45-day reinstatement of employees terminated since Feb. 13. while legal challenges play out.

On March 11, the USDA said in response to the MSPB decision that by Wednesday, March 12, the Department will place all terminated probationary employees in pay status and provide each with back pay from the date of termination. The agency says it is also working to quickly develop a phased plan for return-to-duty. While those plans materialize, all probationary employees will be paid.

Terminations locally

Requests regarding how many employees were let go locally within the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the Forest Service have gone unanswered. However, the national number is about 10%. Amid the silence, Tase is coming forward with information along with former service wilderness technician and hydrology technician, Kelly Bessem.

The two together have personally known several people who were terminated within the local unit. Bessem says many of those cut are hesitant to come forward.

“Unfortunately,” Bessem says, “I think they got everyone running scared.”

So far, Bessem and Tase have confirmed 11 members were cut from the local unit. These positions covered watershed restoration, trail work, wildlife biology and fisheries, conservation and education, as well other important aspects.

According to attorney Justin Schnitzer, in a blog discussing federal employee probationary periods, while probationary workers are afforded protection from discrimination based on characteristics like race, color, religion, sex, age, and disability, as well as retaliation related to whistleblowing, their appeal rights are limited in other instances. “Unlike your tenured colleagues, you can be shown the door with minimal procedural fuss if your performance or conduct doesn’t meet the mark.”

That was the basis in the termination letter of Feb. 13 that stated, “The [a]gency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the [a]gency would be in the public interest.”

In her opinion piece with the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Tase says, “This would be fine if it were true, but it is not.”

There was no documentation of performance issues for several people she knew.

Bessem and Tase explain these probationary workers were recently given permanent positions after years of coming back seasonally. It was a push to give loyal long-term seasonal workers these permanent positions so they could finally accrue benefits. Although these workers were new to their permanent positions, some of them had been working for the service seasonally for as long as 20-plus years.

“If you need to do a reduction in workforce, then do it through your legal pathways,” Tase says, acknowledging that probationary employees would likely still be the first to go, “But by firing them because of performance issues, that’s just plain illegal, it’s a scar on their record, it affects unemployment and it’s just disrespectful to the people who have given years to these agencies.”

The recent cuts by the Trump Administration only compound actions that were set in motion as early as August when talks about not rehiring seasonal workers started, Bessem explains. “As far as I can tell, they’re not going to have any seasonal employees,” she says. Seasonal work typically takes place May through October.

Repercussions

Should the legal challenges or other actions result in the permanent termination of probationary workers, what impacts could their absence have within the Tahoe Basin? Bessem says many of the probational workers have ecological expertise vital to fire response, and post-fire recovery efforts as well as other aspects. These cuts not only reduce manpower, but also reduce this knowledge, and could lead to larger issues in the long term.

As far as the compounding effect the lack of seasonal workers will have, Bessem says, “It literally impacts everything because they rely on seasonal employees so heavily.”

The two-part loss could result in a lack of mitigation work amid already desperate attempts to keep up with prescribed burns. Restoration projects could suffer without the seasonal boots on the ground. This is particularly concerning for invasive species projects. “We don’t want invasives to come back,” Bessem says.

Additionally, it leaves little staff to manage visitor centers, wildlife interactions, and minimizes trash control, something very concerning on the Fourth of July. Without the workers, the basin is more likely to see trash left behind in the wilderness. There will be fewer rangers to patrol and ensure campfires are put out, increasing the risk of fires and reducing those who can respond to it. The work then falls on the backs of those remaining.

“It’s going to be super stressful and they’re not going to be able to keep up with it,” Bessem says. “It’s just not fair to them.”

The uncertainty stacks as a potential government shutdown looms, dependent on whether Congress can approve funding or an extension by end of day, Friday, March 14.