Months after the U.S. Forest Service cut thousands of positions nationwide, including 16 workers on the White River National Forest, Colorado’s congressional delegation is concerned that many of those lost played a critical role in preventing and fighting wildfires.
Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Republican from Grand Junction representing Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, joined all of Colorado’s Democratic representatives in Congress in sending a letter dated April 29 to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking her to reinstate Forest Service workers who are qualified to respond to wildfires. The three other Republicans representing Colorado congressional districts did not sign the letter.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says wildland firefighting positions were exempt from hiring freezes and layoffs. Nonetheless, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and the other signatories estimate that since January, the Forest Service has lost 3,000 staffers who hold the agency’s Incident Qualification Card, commonly called a red card.
“The layoff of red-card holding Forest Service employees has substantially weakened our nation’s firefighting workforce,” the letter reads. “Red-card-carrying Forest Service staff have the skills, training and qualifications to support wildfire response (and, indeed, fight wildfires), but hold other full-time jobs at the agency. Red-card holders are the backbone of federal firefighting efforts, proving critical support and added capacity when a wildfire breaks out.”
In addition to the layoffs that the Trump administration announced Feb. 14, there have been two opportunities for Forest Service employees to voluntarily leave the agency through the Deferred Resignation Program, in which participants resign and retain pay and benefits through Sept. 30. It’s not clear how many employees the White River National Forest has lost through this program, through other voluntary separation and through layoffs. Forest Service officials did not respond to a request for comment about this week’s letter or how many red-card carrying staff have been lost, and Aspen Journalism is awaiting reply on an inquiry through the Freedom of Information Act that was sent in early April concerning recent staffing, budgetary and communications changes.
Local nonprofits, retired Forest Service employees — including former White River National Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams — and the general public have expressed a growing concern about how a deeply reduced workforce will be able to manage the busy summer season on the White River National Forest, which was already facing deep budget cuts.
Hurd has been meeting with county commissioners across his sprawling congressional district — which includes much of the Western Slope, as well as Pueblo and the San Luis Valley — and said he has heard concerns about public lands management.
“We need more boots on the ground,” Hurd said in a phone interview Wednesday. “We need more individuals that are managing our forests, managing our public lands, reducing the fire load in our national forests, protecting watershed health, because, remember, forest health also means watershed health.”
Hurd said he has spoken with those in leadership roles at the White River National Forest and understands that recent cuts were to those working in the field.
“That’s something that we need to make sure we address as quickly as possible, particularly given the potential fire risk that we may have coming this summer,” he said.
The letter that Hurd signed is direct in its plea to Rollins and the USDA.
“The Forest Service is now entering peak fire season in a compromised position, placing an even greater fire danger on communities across Colorado,” it reads. “The loss of red-card holders threatens public safety, undercuts local economies and undermines years of local wildfire prevention efforts. We urge you to restore the Forest Service red-card holders without delay.”
Local organizations faced with picking up the slack, cleaning toilets
Amid the Trump administration’s layoffs, push to encourage resignations and talk of large-scale reorganization of the Forest Service, local organizations are deeply concerned about protecting the national forest and are working to avoid damage to the landscape.
“We know for a fact that there will be highly reduced Forest Service staff on [Independence Pass],” said Karin Teague, executive director for the Independence Pass Foundation.
Teague said the presence of Forest Service staffers in the field is critical — well before a wildfire incident occurs.
“If this summer we end up having drought conditions and wildfire restrictions are put in place, it’s critical to have boots on the ground, making sure that people are obeying fire restrictions, that they’re putting out campfires completely,” Teague said.
Teague and her summer field-ecology intern will increase their presence on the landscape this summer, she said, checking on campfires, educating the public and picking up garbage.
“We’re determined to make sure the landscape and the health of every living thing up there doesn’t suffer as a result of these cuts to budget and staff,” Teague said. “It’s a big hole to fill, and it’s not something we can do endlessly.”
Given the White River’s bare-bones budget, the Independence Pass Foundation will now foot a $18,000 to 20,000 bill for a contract to clean and stock toilets at the summit of Independence Pass, the Grottos day-use area and the Upper Lost Man trailhead. Such maintenance previously was overseen and funded by the Forest Service. Teague added that she is working with Aspen Chamber Resort Association and Pitkin County to help fund and support the contract.
“At the summit, you do not want to have restrooms closed,” Teague said. “Human waste and toilet paper on the tundra takes years to degrade, and there’s a reason restrooms were installed up there a couple decades ago. They’re a critical necessity.”
But the public will see a reduction in service; those toilets have been cleaned and stocked every day of the busy summer season. This year, the Independence Pass Foundation has stepped up to secure a contract with American Land and Leisure to clean and stock the bathrooms three days a week. Teague said volunteers will work to fill in the remaining four days a week.
Hurd said he is in favor of working to identify areas across the government, including the federal land management agencies, that can work more efficiently. But he emphasized that those cuts should not affect people working on the ground to protect resources.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that our public-lands agencies have the resources they need in the places that they need them and that when we’re making cuts, we’re making them in places that aren’t going to result in harm to our public forest, to our national forest and our public lands,” Hurd said.
This story was published in the May 2, 2025 edition of Aspen Daily News.