FOREST SERVICE FRONT AND CENTER THIS WEEK: Lawmakers and wildland firefighter advocates are focusing on challenges facing the Forest Service and its employees this week, as the agency ramps up preparations for the upcoming fire season and begin work on its 10-year wildfire mitigation strategy. First up, your host reported over the weekend that the Biden administration's ambitious forest management goals, while applauded by many ag and environmental advocates and workers, have raised concerns about the lack of Forest Service staffing needed to carry out efforts in the 10-year plan like restoration and maintenance of 50 million additional acres. Challenges galore: Grueling workplace conditions, low wages and limited housing access and affordability have long been issues for the agency's recruitment — as the department itself acknowledges. As your host previously reported , some state agencies like California Fire pay new firefighters $50,000 a year, whereas federal wildland firefighters just received a $15 minimum wage pay bump at the start of this year. Some Forest Service managers are already wondering how to house their wildland firefighters this coming fire season. While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has previously mentioned working with AirBnB to provide housing, USDA said there's no formal partnership, and only four employees last summer used housing offers from AirBnB hosts. When asked how many more workers are needed to execute the 10-year plan, USDA and Forest Service officials declined to give an estimate. Tapping into colleges? During an Arizona event in January, Vilsack said he planned to "broaden the base" of recruiting for the department, with a focus on historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal colleges and the military. But forestry experts say it's not that simple. Certain on-the-ground labor required in forest restoration and wildfire mitigation work doesn't necessarily require a four-year degree from a university, according to Linda Nagel, professor and department head at Colorado State's Warner College of Natural Resources. "It's not to say that someone with a degree won't do that work, but they are more in the position of making decisions with what to do with the forest, and crews would be brought in to do the implementation," Nagel said. Other roles in the Forest Service require skills that a college degree can provide, like using technical and modeling software, but the positions also require multiple years of experience — something a new graduate is unlikely to have. But it comes back to pay: The low wages and modest benefits from the federal agency is another hurdle for college administrators. "That is a huge problem. We have a lot of graduates that go into entry level jobs at lower GS rates, and so the salaries are low — though the work is very important," Nagel said. "That really impacts where people choose to take jobs… There's a lot of turnover in the workforce because of that." The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents federal wildland firefighters, is holding an event Tuesday afternoon to advocate for better pay, mental and medical services and other benefits. The union supports legislation that could address those shortfalls, including Tim's Act — named after Tim Hart, a wildland firefighter who died while battling a blaze in New Mexico last spring. The legislation would boost firefighter pay to $20 an hour minimum, provide a housing allowance and other benefits. Pushing for Tim's Act separate from the union is his wife, Michelle Hart, who met with Vilsack shortly after her husband's death. For the first time, Vilsack heard about the living conditions wildland firefighters and other forest service personnel face while they work on the job — an experience Vilsack recounts to the public and press often. "You think about other emergency responders (and) you don't like to think of them being treated in such a way that they're just dirty and homeless and in unsafe conditions, and that's just what we allow to happen," Hart told your host. "And so he was really shocked by that. He said that he had no idea that that was an issue." On the Hill: The House Oversight environment subcommittee will discuss the federal government's wildfire preparation measures and the "human toll of wildfires" during a hybrid hearing on Wednesday with Forest Service Chief Randy Moore and singer Carole King, a prominent land conservation advocate, among others. At the same time, the House Ag Committee will hold a farm bill hearing on "the role of USDA programs in addressing climate change" — one of the most critical and controversial debates surrounding the 2023 farm bill and President Joe Biden's entire agriculture agenda.
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