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

[dreamrunnerjt]

We will watch the world burn and cry.

 

[bullfrog !]

The plan is dispersed just outside West Yellowstone for a week. I come in on Sunday to a paid site (which I just reserved) for another week. And head south after that. If I can get away with no hassles dispersed camping inside Yellowstone I'm fine with that. My chances are good because of the reduced staff? Or they might not be as strict?

I don’t imagine the remaining employees are going to have a very good attitude if you do interact with them and are in violation of the rules. Just my opinion though. National Park Service had problems with understaffing and lack of funds before Trump made the situation worse. You also want to be careful as far as interaction with other visitors as they may be frustrated by lack of services and that park gets crowded. Taking someone’s parking space could be a bad move. It could be like Christmas shopping on Black Friday used to be! lol!!!

 

[rruff]

Yep. So I guess we're right on track then. We just don't have a end game date yet.

Experts expect Artificial Super Intelligence by 2027... so not long now...

 

[WanderingRose]

I spent about six weeks in national parks out west the summer of Covid, just getting away and playing with a new solar suitcase.

There were entire campground loops closed because they didn’t have adequate staff for them, and this could happen again.

 

[Sky King]

We COULD get destroyed by a giant meteor hitting the earth but lets wait on the extreme negative viewpoint until it happens.
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...-hitting-earth-in-2032-have-reached-new-high/

 

[sdbpost]

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

Won’t happen. The 1% don’t use these, and they don’t care if we do. Maybe when they are forced into bread and circuses to placate the masses.

 

[rruff]

Won’t happen.

Always ask "will the dudes above the 99.99%ile benefit in a big way"? If there was a proposal to sell off public land, then that would be a yes...

 

[Sky King]

Always expect the worst & that's exactly what you'll get at least in your poor pathetic world. Very Sad Indeed

 

[Dirtrider]

I spent about six weeks in national parks out west the summer of Covid, just getting away and playing with a new solar suitcase.

There were entire campground loops closed because they didn’t have adequate staff for them, and this could happen again.

Wasn't that because of Covid, not staffing or money? A lot of places were closed down during that time.

 

[WanderingRose]

What I was told by more than one camp host in the federal campgrounds I stayed in is that loops were closed because they didn’t have enough staff to monitor them, clean the bathrooms, etc.

Could have been because people were out sick, but not enough staff would have the same effect, regardless the reason, I would think.

 

[Morgana]

I seem to remember the same kind of thing Rose described, during a budget or staffing crisis (maybe one of those temporary government shutdowns). Since I wasn't trying to camp at the time, the details haven't stuck with me, but I remember reading about it, including increasingly unusable restrooms and trash bins.

If anybody really wanted to know the past history of this, it shouldn't be hard to look up.

It's fun to insult federal employees and I'm sure it gives a lovely warm feeling of superiority. Every fool in Christendom thinks they know how to do the other guy's job better. Half the time it turns out the guy was doing his best under constraints we didn't know about, and the other half he really does turn out to be an @$$h@t. Welcome to Planet Earth and the human race.

But if y'all think removing federal park staff (whether salaried or contract) won't make a difference, then give it a week and then go use a park toilet or dump station ... or break your ankle in the back country ... or watch rowdies (or worse) take over your favorite campsite.

Maybe stop sometime and think about ALL the service people who become noticeable only when they screw up. It doesn't mean they're all screwups (to use another forum post-er's language, Duhh); it means that our lives are routinely being made more safe and comfortable by people we never even notice.

It is not silly or scaremongering to think carefully about the possible effects of our choices -- especially big choices some of which can't be undone again. It's called being an adult.

 

[bullfrog !]

I think a big part of understanding the problem is to realize our government employees are providing a “service” not working for a corporation to make a profit for someone else. They work for our good as a country. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that thinks our lower ranking soldiers are over paid for example. Look at the mess that happened when we tried to make the Post Office a for profit type organization. This idea that our government is a “business” shows me the people in charge are in politics for a profit not to serve the people and spend tax dollars wisely to benefit the country’s wellbeing.

 

[WanderingRose]

Yeah! Qwit bitchin about those Federal Employees trying to do their job!
You know; like Donald Trump.
You people are such a joke of hypocrites.

Is this really necessary, and you do realize this is not the political subforum where almost anything goes?

 

[RonDean]

Well they need to double the staff so there can be 4 times as many govt workers that don’t do anything but flap their jaws about nuthin.

I once worked at a Private, Non-Union, For-profit, Corporation where I observed 3 workers putting ID stickers on overhead pipes. One holding the ladder, one handing up the stickers, and one putting the stickers on the appropriate pipes. And they were taking their sweet time to get it done too. Based on that, let's shut down all non-government corporations. After all, it can't have anything to do with certain human beings milking whatever system they find themselves in. Like everything else lately, what we are watching is surgery done by a berserker with a sword instead of an intelligently directed scalpel.

 

[Sky King]

I once worked at a Private, Non-Union, For-profit, Corporation where I observed 3 workers putting ID stickers on overhead pipes. One holding the ladder, one handing up the stickers, and one putting the stickers on the appropriate pipes. And they were taking their sweet time to get it done too. Based on that, let's shut down all non-government corporations. After all, it can't have anything to do with certain human beings milking whatever system they find themselves in. Like everything else lately, what we are watching is surgery done by a berserker with a sword instead of an intelligently directed scalpel.

I BET YOU were great at that job Ron. Were you one of the 3 or sounds like the observer or supervisor?

 

[INTJohn]

 

[maki2]

I spent about six weeks in national parks out west the summer of Covid, just getting away and playing with a new solar suitcase.

There were entire campground loops closed because they didn’t have adequate staff for them, and this could happen again.

Pleased that for many years now the National parks only have Federal employees in actual wildlife ranger positions. The running of campgrounds, hotels, resturaunts, gift shops, grocery stores, restrooms, entry booths etc. and repairs to structures is all done by outside, independent, concession companies. The Federal Government offloaded the responsibility for those employee positions many years ago. They contract out all that work and the Federal Government gets payments of incoming revenue from those contracts.

 

[bullfrog !]

Pleased that for many years now the National parks only have Federal employees in actual wildlife ranger positions. The running of campgrounds, hotels, resturaunts, gift shops, grocery stores, restrooms, entry booths etc. and repairs to structures is all done by outside, independent, concession companies. The Federal Government offloaded the responsibility for those employee positions many years ago. They contract out all that work and the Federal Government gets payments of incoming revenue from those contracts.

Without government oversight those concessions don’t do a very good job in my experience. Rangers still do law enforcement, interpretation and collect fees as well as maintain the common areas.

 

[WanderingRose]

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

 

[rruff]

I agree but Congress is so corrupt as to not do their job of representing constituents and the very agencies that oversee government funding and fraud have been gutted to the point they are ineffective by Trump and his wealthy supporters.

Democracy died a long time ago. This just signifies that they are gonna quit propping up the corpse, and are getting ready to bury the damn thing.

I've been waiting for the end of humanity for the past 10 years. I thought it would happen later but AI tech seems to be accelerating, and no matter how ASI shakes out... whether humans are able to contain it or not, or avoid killing everyone to control it... the future isn't going to have a use for humans. At most there will be a handful of rich narcissistic, psychopathic, sociopathic owners of the tech and however many humans they wish to play with, and that will be it.