WENATCHEE — Nearly 40 employees of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest lost their jobs last week alongside thousands of federal workers across the country.
Multiple federal agencies have laid off employees as part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce. According to Politico, 3,400 employees of the U.S. Forest Service were laid off beginning Feb. 13 in a first round of layoffs that targeted probationary employees, who have been on the job for about a year or less.
On Monday, hundreds gathered at Memorial Park in what became a joint protest against Trump Administration policies and in support of federal workers.
Suzanne Cable was an attendee of the rally. Cable retired from the USFS about a year ago and at her retirement, she was the program manager for the recreation, trails and wilderness programs at the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. She said she was there to show support for federal workers who she said are being “unfairly and drastically, cruelly mistreated.”
Cable said she wanted people to understand the federal job cuts are “a method of reducing workforce that just has no strategy” and the removal of probationary workers was a loss of the “next generation of land stewards.”
“These are the people that are at the beginning of their career, that are choosing public service and are dedicated to a public deed, and they’re the ones that are being targeted this first round,” Cable said. “And that’s just going to have repercussions for the future of the functioning of our federal government, the future for the function of the Forest Service.”
Owen Wickenheiser was a wilderness and climbing ranger for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest for three years as a seasonal employee until last year, when he became a permanent seasonal employee. He was primarily stationed in the Enchantments near Leavenworth, a popular area that attracts campers from all over the country. During Monday’s demonstration, Wickenheiser called it his dream job.
He and all but one from his crew lost their positions. On Valentine’s Day, he said he received a call from his district ranger and forest supervisor, and was told he was fired based on performance. Before that, Wickenheiser said he’d exceeded or met expectations in every previous performance review.
Now, he’s worried about potential human health hazards and fires in the Enchantments if there are no rangers taking care of the area.
Wickenheiser said rangers put out a lot of campfires at Colchuck Lake and above the Enchantments, even though campfires are not allowed above 5,000 feet in a designated wilderness area.
“People will still just make fires wherever they see fit, because they just want to,” he said. “And so we tell them that they are not allowed and we put them out. But if no one’s up there to make sure that’s happening it could all burn.”
Additionally, Wickenheiser said rangers fly out around 10,000 pounds of human waste every year. Without the staff to do that, he warned of human waste problems.“
A lot of that waste just drains into the lake if it’s left unattended,” he said. “It’s not soil that will decompose human waste because it’s above the tree line in some sections.”
Wickenheiser also noted that he and his crew were already short-staffed. Katijo Maher, President of NFFE Local 34, a local chapter of the National Federation of Federal Employees, echoed this.
Maher said the agency was “already decimated” by being unable to hire seasonal employees due to budgeting deficits. Without seasonal employees, the agency relied on PSE and permanent employees to support recreation, permits, timber and the fire militia.
Currently, firefighters are not affected by the layoffs, according to Maher. Maher’s worked for USFS for 36 years and has worked in fire, aviation and recreation. She currently works as a Visitor Information Specialist for the Skykomish Ranger District and within her position, she also supports fire response within the militia.
“When we have a huge fire season, we are asked to come and support the fire effort and the fire response,” she said.
That could mean anything from creating a pickup crew that helps fight fires or working logistics or for Maher, managing a helicopter.“It’s going to be a huge, huge deficit,” she said.
Maher also said USFS workers were bracing for more layoffs on Tuesday.
Maher explained that Office of Personnel Management, which is the federal government’s human resources agency, provides the region with lists of employees to terminate and the region then contacts the forest service supervisors.
There was no word over any additional layoffs as of Tuesday afternoon.
