Last week we got word that 360 employees of the National Forest Service in Montana have been let go. KGEZ 20-20 News has been in contact with local and regional Forest Service officers and we’re being told they either have no specific information or they’re not authorized to comment.
The Montana Free Press reporter Amanda Eggert has had a bit more luck but her sources remain “unidentified.” What she has discovered is that Brooke Rollins, who heads up the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, “fully supports President Trump’s directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA’s ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers, loggers and the agriculture community.”
Montana Conservation Voters Executive Director Whitney Tawney told Eggert, “These cuts will make our public lands less healthy, more likely to burn and less accessible. Montana’s Congressional delegation must call President Trump now and tell him this is unacceptable. These decisions should be made locally, not by D.C. political hacks who know nothing of Montana’s public lands.”
Politico is reporting that nationally, about 3,400 Forest Service employees have been fired by the Trump Administration with no future plans to fulfill the Agency’s responsibilities.
