Communities around Colorado fear that a nationwide hiring freeze on seasonal Forest Service workers next year could stall trail work and eliminate services for thousands of hikers, campers and other visitors.

“I think for residents, it’s going to be a big blow,” Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys said of the potential impact in northwest Colorado. “There is a constant need to cut down (trees killed by beetles). We have erosion issues and we are seeing an incredible increase in the use of our public lands throughout Routt County.

Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced in September that the agency would “no longer hire seasonal employees” outside of firefighters next year.

“We simply cannot accomplish the same amount of work with fewer employees,” Moore warned in discussing next year’s budget. “We’re not going to try to do everything that’s expected of us, with fewer people.”

Macys said not having enough seasonal Forest Service workers in northwest Colorado to maintain recreation areas as more visitors seek them creates a “perfect storm.”

“We are not satisfied with the situation,” she added.

She also questioned how the Forest Service was spending new revenue streams from visitors to Routt County.

The Forest Service raised and increased user fees at several Routt County campgrounds and recreation areas in recent years.

This included a new $5 fee to park and access the popular Mad Creek Trail, north of Steamboat.

When Macys and other Routt County leaders publicly supported the fees, they said they expected to pay for more work and maintenance at those sites.

“Now we’re hearing that they’re not going to be able to hire those seasonal workers, and those fees are, I don’t know if they’re being redirected, if they’re being taken out for future maintenance or what’s going on with them.” , Macys said.

Meanwhile, volunteer organizations that have spent decades helping the Forest Service maintain hundreds of miles of trails are also concerned about the hiring freeze.

Last summer, 10 Friends of the Wilderness volunteers helped the Forest Service build an elevated wooden boardwalk on the wilderness access section of the Gilpin Lake Trail, one of the main trails on the popular Wilderness Hike. Zirkel Circle.

“This type of project is only possible in partnership with a Forest Service team,” Laura Foulk, president of Friends of the Wilderness, told KUNC in an email. “Next season, the lack of seasonal Forest Service employees will limit or eliminate special projects. The daily effort to keep trails clear of fallen trees and water hazards will be greatly hampered.

She said if that happens and obstacles such as trees are left on the trails, visitors will not have access or will go around those obstacles, causing erosion and damage to the trails and surrounding areas.

“We know from experience that when an area is not maintained due to lack of staff, the number of trees that have fallen due to the pine beetle outbreak and wildfires over the past 10 years can reach a point where two to three times as many people will be needed. hours to work through accumulated tree snags than if they were properly maintained,” she said.

State congressional leaders are also questioning the Forest Service’s decision to forgo hiring thousands of seasonal workers.

In a letter sent last month, they said the plan was “unacceptable” and would leave communities “without essential services”.

The Center of Western Priorities estimates that 2,400 jobs will be affected nationally by the hiring freeze.

A spokesperson for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest could not immediately say how many positions will be affected locally.

The spokesperson referred KUNC’s questions about the hiring freeze to a national office on Monday and said Wednesday he was still waiting for a response.