RMEF action alert. "Fix Our Forests Act" 119th Congress H.R.471

[BuzzH]

Hopefully they try to fold some funding into this.

Pretty tough to do much of anything management wise when you can't even hire seasonal help.

EO put a halt to all Federal hiring for 90 days, preceded by the over a year "pause" in hiring before that.

 

[jimh406]

Passed the House. On to the Senate.

 

[Potsie]

Hopefully they try to fold some funding into this.

Pretty tough to do much of anything management wise when you can't even hire seasonal help.

EO put a halt to all Federal hiring for 90 days, preceded by the over a year "pause" in hiring before that.

I hope part of that funding would be to make permanent the pay increases for wildland firefighters.

Gonna need those guys, and many more like them in the years to come.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Finally had a chance to read the details, this looks like good stuff to me, well thought out and shows real desire to address the issues and not just partisan power moves. The only part I really see as a weakening of environmental review is Sec 122 exempting FS and BLM from having to reconsult on existing projects based on new ESA listings or new information. I'd revise that language slightly, but seems like reasonable compromise.

Funding is an issue, but the bigger issue is turning that funding into work on the ground, hiring has been a huge problem for both agencies, jobs that used to have dozens or even hundreds of applicants now often go unfilled, either because of limited budget, but also sometimes because the few applicants turn them down. The other barrier is getting contracts awarded, huge turn over of contracting officers, and with a push to use contracts instead of agreements that problem will only get worse. Hopefully the fireshed center would be set up to do procurement.

 

[BuzzH]

I hope part of that funding would be to make permanent the pay increases for wildland firefighters.

Gonna need those guys, and many more like them in the years to come.

We've spent a ton of time lobbying D.C. to make that happen. Getting there, slowly but surely.

 

[Nameless Range]

Something interesting in this act is is a provision to determine if the Forest Service should be moved to a Western state and out of Washington D.C. They have a 1-year timeline to decide.

There's plenty of USFS ground in the eastern half of the country too. The line of thinking I have heard is one of better understanding/close-to-the-groundness. My gut reaction is that the idea smells of gimmicky inertness, but that's maybe because I have heard it before and I really don't have a strong opinion on that at this point.

 

[SAJ-99]

Something interesting in this act is is a provision to determine if the Forest Service should be moved to a Western state and out of Washington D.C. They have a 1-year timeline to decide.

There's plenty of USFS ground in the eastern half of the country too. The line of thinking I have heard is one of better understanding/close-to-the-groundness. My gut reaction is that the idea smells of gimmicky inertness, but that's maybe because I have heard it before and I really don't have a strong opinion on that at this point.

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Moving the BLM to CO did nothing but cause a mass exodus of those with institutional knowledge of how the agency operated to leave the department. But that was the goal. These agencies all have local offices, most understaffed, that do most of the day to day work that people see. It is hard for me to logically reconcile the order to eliminating WFH and go back to the office while moving the headquarters of an agency further from the agency it reports to. It's just intended chaos to get staff to quit and eventually cut money flow to the agency.

 

[TheJason]

Something interesting in this act is is a provision to determine if the Forest Service should be moved to a Western state and out of Washington D.C. They have a 1-year timeline to decide.

There's plenty of USFS ground in the eastern half of the country too. The line of thinking I have heard is one of better understanding/close-to-the-groundness. My gut reaction is that the idea smells of gimmicky inertness, but that's maybe because I have heard it before and I really don't have a strong opinion on that at this point.

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Given the fact it’s just as, if not more important to be directly in contact with legislators and such, I’d say this is “meh” at best.

Every state bases its head agency offices in the same city as the state capitol. Why would one expect the federal agencies to operate differently?

 

[hank4elk]

Given the fact it’s just as, if not more important to be directly in contact with legislators and such, I’d say this is “meh” at best.

Every state bases its head agency offices in the same city as the state capitol. Why would one expect the federal agencies to operate differently?

The DC office is more than able to do their jobs from DC.
This is a defunding/shutdown gimmick pure and simple.

I believe they use the interweb and planes fly out of there...I saw no crank wall phones when I was there 20 years ago.

 

[Sytes]

It's just intended chaos to get staff to quit

They are bloated in D.C.. it can certainly be cleansed a few times over.
Likely same with certain State operations.

Initially I supported the move to Grand Junction(?). I believe living in the element may reduce the pencil pushers who have no clue of the reality beyond their concrete jungle.
Other side views it the same as shared by Jason and Hank.

 

[FI460]

They are bloated in D.C.. it can certainly be cleansed a few times over.
Likely same with certain State operations.

Initially I supported the move to Grand Junction(?). I believe living in the element may reduce the pencil pushers who have no clue of the reality beyond their concrete jungle.
Other side views it the same as shared by Jason and Hank.

Pencil pushers are pencil pushers IMO. I work 3 hours from HQ and the majority of desk jockeys don't even know we exist. Moving where the pencil pusher sits won't have any impact on those of us out in the territories.

Administrative access to the people in power seems to be what actually matters.

 

[TheJason]

They are bloated in D.C.. it can certainly be cleansed a few times over.
Likely same with certain State operations.

Initially I supported the move to Grand Junction(?). I believe living in the element may reduce the pencil pushers who have no clue of the reality beyond their concrete jungle.
Other side views it the same as shared by Jason and Hank.

I don’t know if it’s bloated or not.

I do know that proper organizational structure and proper supervision makes where you live and are based out of a moot point.

It’s far more important for folks to know and converse with their District Ranger, who is much more knowledgeable about local issues than someone who is paid to look at the 30k foot view.

 

[Sytes]

Edit: moving on -

Great move for RMEF to press for this, as mentioned before.

 

[Nameless Range]

Zinke has been a huge road block for the Utah delegation on their dreams to liquidate or transfer public lands. His staff had been good to work with. As former Secretary of Interior he has a better idea of how the Department works than any of the Utah delegation.

Hunters would be well served to work with Zinke whenever possible. It will help keep him as an ally on access and public lands issues.

Saw this this morning.

Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, whose state has large chunks of federally owned lands, drew a red line on selling public lands.

“It’s a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever,” Mr. Zinke told The Times.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/27/house-gop-mulling-trillions-spending-cuts-miami-re/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIF6iZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeE2EoSF-hbdio5j4Uq4TSnEHim8rqGjTTDAaPltBRjGRh-YMpq-ap0p_w_aem_K7APsARLSSJ3x_4O-hpKgw

Say what a person wants to about Zinke, but there's a lot of members of his party, even here in Montana, who don't agree with that sentiment.

 

[bayoublaster7527]

Saw this this morning.

Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, whose state has large chunks of federally owned lands, drew a red line on selling public lands.

“It’s a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever,” Mr. Zinke told The Times.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jan/27/house-gop-mulling-trillions-spending-cuts-miami-re/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIF6iZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeE2EoSF-hbdio5j4Uq4TSnEHim8rqGjTTDAaPltBRjGRh-YMpq-ap0p_w_aem_K7APsARLSSJ3x_4O-hpKgw

Say what a person wants to about Zinke, but there's a lot of members of his party, even here in Montana, who don't agree with that sentiment.

Really appreciate seeing this, Zinke has taken a lot of heat from certain folks on HT, indirectly questioning his “Montananess” and military service. Nice to see him get a fair shake and some credit.

 

[WesternCO68]

The Forest Service will need more personnel to implement more thinning, timber harvests, etc. We'll need good people - the kind of people who are going to be scared to enter the federal workforce in the current climate.

 

[ismith]

The Forest Service will need more personnel to implement more thinning, timber harvests, etc. We'll need good people - the kind of people who are going to be scared to enter the federal workforce in the current climate.

There used to be quite a few loggers in NW Montana.

 

[BuzzH]

There used to be quite a few loggers in NW Montana.

Yep. Its really too bad the timber industry ate its own.

 

[Sytes]

2005: Last main logging company of the time for NW Montana, Lincoln County, shut down. They maintained 90 employees via FS timber contracts.

"Needless to say, we're stunned," Lincoln County Commissioner Rita Windom said. "It will have a significant impact on Lincoln County, and I'm just heartsick, because we just went through this two years ago with the Stimson mill."

He said the U.S. Forest Service is "dysfunctional and leaderless," responding mostly to the threat of lawsuits from environmental groups rather than the needs of rural communities that have historically relied on national forest lands.

"It used to be a good thing to be surrounded by national forest," he said. "But not anymore."

Eureka is indeed surrounded by national forest lands, and that has over time contributed to the mill's timber supply problems.

"The mills that are going to survive are those that are surrounded by private forests," he said. "They can dart in and pick up a Forest Service sale every now and then."

When the mill started operating just over 20 years ago, the Kootenai was offering annual timber sales totaling close to 200 million board feet. In recent years, the volume offered has fallen below 60 million board feet, Hurst said, and most of that timber has been lower-quality dead wood.

But the main problem has been a lack of predictability in the available timber supply on the Kootenai Forest in recent years, he said.


Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Bob Castaneda acknowledged the problem.

"They are entirely right. The ideal situation is for us to be able to provide a steady amount of timber," he said. "We can do our part on that, but if [timber sales are] held up by litigation, then it's out of our control and it's in the courts' hands."

 

[BuzzH]

2005:

"The mills that are going to survive are those that are surrounded by private forests," he said. "They can dart in and pick up a Forest Service sale every now and then."

That 20 year old prediction didn't age well.