US Forest Service and National Park Service to fire thousands of workers

maki2 · Wednesday at 3:20 PM

WanderingRose said:
Not all federal campgrounds have been privatized, in my experience, and camp hosts are still volunteers.

I was talking about National Parks. Not independent on their own, federal campgrounds. However those campgrounds are also increasingly becoming run by private management companies under contract and that has been very good for some of my friends who are not yet retirement age who receive a minimum wage type of salary plus camp spot at them for doing camp hosting. YouTuber AdventureVanMan worked for one of those management companies last summer and did a lot of postings about it. I am
currently camped with a group s as long them a friend who is going to do his 3rd summer season at an NFS campsite also working for such an employer. Yes they do have to clean bathrooms and do grounds work as well as making sure fees get paid and submitting fees, etc.

Tony's Dream · Wednesday at 7:46 PM

I often travel to the smaller parks that are not used much, so always lots of room and places to stay. My concern will be if they have to close the small parks or forrest areas, that forces people into fewer sites.........making them over crowded.

Dirtrider · Thursday at 9:45 AM

Tony's Dream said:
I often travel to the smaller parks that are not used much, so always lots of room and places to stay. My concern will be if they have to close the small parks or forrest areas, that forces people into fewer sites.........making them over crowded.

The people that use them have the power to take good care of them or trash them. Sadly, I see a lot of abuse by selfish campers tossing trash, waste, etc. all over. We all can do a bit each time we stay at a site. Pick up when you get there and pack it out. I try to drag at least one bag of someone else's items they "forgot" to pack.out
I see general laziness and lack of desire to work by the younger generation and Sadly feel it with only get worst with time.

Sky King · Thursday at 9:57 AM

The only constant is change maybe for better or not. No need to worry until something changes or not.

bullfrog ! · Thursday at 10:45 AM

Sky King said:
The only constant is change maybe for better or not. No need to worry until something changes or not.

It can take 6 months to a year to hire new people. When that process is completed they go through a year probation usually if being permanently hired. Many of these people go through background checks unlike many political hires. Civil Service hires take time to insure they have no outside pressure to commit crimes. For example a gate attendant may be denied a job if they have had bankruptcy, failed a drug test, committed fraud or have a felony record. The damage already done is going to be several years in correcting. You cannot rehire someone without repeating the process which insures you are getting the best qualified people at the time, after all this is a competitive process. Failing to realize how much time and money has gone into getting the people into government service is stupidity in my opinion not to mention the sacrifices the people made themselves in order to meet the high standards.

Morgana · Thursday at 11:21 AM

The idea that you should not think in advance about the potential consequences of your actions ...

and the idea that if you don't like the consequences of your actions you can hit some kind of cosmic Control-Z and get back what you had before ...

... are ludicrous. They are insane. That is how drunks and two-year-olds think. It is irresponsible nonsense.

I am not picking random ugly words for the sake of insulting people. I mean them literally. Take it personally if you want, I don't care, but in reality I am speaking about the ideas and not about the individuals.

This is not some frat-house game or TV reality show (or dime-a-dozen You-Tube video). It is real life. There will be long-term consequences. They will affect you personally.

You wouldn't apply this kind of thinking to, for example, flying a plane, or fixing your brakes, or picnicking on a railroad track and hearing a train whistle. (How do I know? because if you did, you'd be dead already.) Sadly, by the time you figure out that this is not a game and your adult choices have adult consequences, a lot of people will already be harmed irreparably.

I'm all for respecting alternative points of view but this "what? me worry?!" stuff is not a meaningful alternative opinion, it is nuts.

Sky King · Thursday at 11:54 AM

Morgana said:
You wouldn't apply this kind of thinking to, for example, flying a plane, or fixing your brakes, or picnicking on a railroad track and hearing a train whistle. (How do I know? because if you did, you'd be dead already.) Sadly, by the time you figure out that this is not a game and your adult choices have adult consequences, a lot of people will already be harmed irreparably.

You have NO IDEA what will change, if it will change or how it will change so tell me again HOW worrying is helping you. You may have a stroke obcessing over something you know nothing about as usual.

bullfrog ! · Thursday at 12:09 PM

Sky King said:
You have NO IDEA what will change, if it will change or how it will change so tell me again HOW worrying is helping you. You may have a stroke obcessing over something you know nothing about as usual.

We have seen what underfunding and understaffing has done the National Forest Service and National Park Service as this has been the situation for several years resulting to huge degradation of our forests and parks. Covid 19 added to the problems of an already bad situation. All one has to do is stay current with some of the reviews of parks and forests which most here do. It doesn’t take a genius to realize this is a terrible policy and even worse when it is done in this manner. If you are driving down the road and see hazard ahead you don’t speed up. As a former president once said “it wouldn’t be prudent.”

Sky King · Thursday at 12:44 PM

bullfrog ! · Thursday at 1:08 PM

Sky King said:

In what way do you see gutting these agencies makes for better forests and parks?

Sky King · Thursday at 1:27 PM

Intelligent people simply aren’t willing to accept answers that they don’t understand — no matter how many other people try to convince them of it, or how many other people believe it, if they aren’t able to convince themselves of it, they won’t accept it.

bullfrog ! · Thursday at 2:36 PM

Sky King said:
Intelligent people simply aren’t willing to accept answers that they don’t understand — no matter how many other people try to convince them of it, or how many other people believe it, if they aren’t able to convince themselves of it, they won’t accept it.

People that can’t understand simple facts aren’t exactly what would be considered intelligent. Intelligent people are able usually to look at their budgets/prices/living conditions and understand the bottom line results no matter what they are being told. Do you really think the problems our parks and forests will be solved by cutting essential jobs and funding?

Matlock · 2025-02-21T09:46:47-0500

AtlantaGuy said:
I hope Trump will use some of the recent cost cutting savings to shore up infrastructure at our National park campgrounds. Many if not most are in dire need of funding for service and improvements

I see these folks opening everything up for oil production and the first step will be closings.
I hesitate to say this but we may be in for a rough time moving forward.

rpmhart333 · 2025-02-21T16:31:50-0500

The thing that P.O.'s me the most is that the richest man in the damn world is guiding this. The guy PAYS NO TAXES AT ALL. The only thing he has invested in this is his Ego...which is Monstrous. He's got zero clue about how real people live, and he doesn't care. If they're going to cut spending I'd damn sure rather have 1000 real taxpayers chosen at random to do the job (for example). True, it'd go slower, but using an axe to accomplish this gags me. Yes, there's cancer there--my thot is that the Defense Department procurement system is the biggest waste of all, with so damn many of those responsible for it retiring from the military and then taking jobs with the people they were guiding our money to--but the way this is occurring disgusts this old Vet.

Morgana · 2025-02-21T16:45:55-0500

could we take this to the politics forum please

bullfrog ! · 2025-02-21T17:09:16-0500

Morgana said:
could we take this to the politics forum please

I had to check the header to see which category this thread was in. Unfortunately the chaos that has been created affects everyone like it or not but I agree any Trump policy that makes civil service jobs or cuts for political reasons needs to go to the politics forum. There is no way in this country poor decisions like this one should be made by one person nevertheless a non elected one.

Sky King · 2025-02-21T17:27:15-0500

You're one of the whiny demos that started it on page one

Morgana · 2025-02-21T18:14:34-0500

I had to check the header too. But if political posts are bothering some people so much that they plan to quit the forum, then maybe we (including me) should try harder to keep them where they belong.

bullfrog ! · 2025-02-21T18:23:14-0500

Actually I have spent the last 20 years volunteering and working in National Parks and Recreation Areas because there has always been a need for more funding and people to help maintain them for future generations. Presidents should have only an administrative role in dealing with civil servants. They are not political positions but competitive hires based on budgets approved by Congress. When years worth of work is jeopardized by thoughtless mass firings which almost all are illegally being processed it is time for all Americans to express their concerns no matter their politics.

Sky King · 2025-02-21T18:59:14-0500

I agree & don't want anyone to leave either.

US Forest Service and National Park Service to fire thousands of workers

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