While heated debates over an overhaul of the U.S. Forest Service continue at the national level, some Wyomingites who love the National Forests have differing views of what it might mean at the ground level.
Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced last week he was stepping down, which was effective Monday, in protest to cuts in agency personnel under the administration of President Donald Trump.
University of Wyoming graduate Tom Schultz was announced as Moore’s replacement, a move praised by Wyoming’s congressional delegates.
Amber Travsky of Laramie frequently visits the Medicine Bow National Forest, and told Cowboy State Daily that she’s worried about the changes.
“I am very concerned with what might happen with the severe reduction in Forest Service personnel. It is much bigger than the chief stepping down,” she said.
Frank Bilek of Buffalo also loves spending time on national forests and has a different perspective on the direction the Forest Service is taking.
“I think there will be people (working for the Forest Service) who are dedicated to the charge, and not just there for the paycheck,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Concerned About Trail Projects
Travsky belongs to a local group called Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail that helps maintain that trail, as well as others on the National Forest.
She said they’ve been “making real progress in opening up trails across the forest.”
That hinges on a good relationship between the volunteers and Forest Service staff, she said.
Volunteers put in many hours, “but could not do it without the assistance of the (Forest Service) staff on the forest,” she said.
Off-Trail Abuse
Travsky and Bilek are both concerned about people going off-trail on motorcycles and ATVs.
“I don’t know that the average person understands the demolition that they can do just by riding an ATV across an open field,” Bilek said.
But they have different opinions of how changes to the Forest Service will affect that.
“We will step up our efforts, but across all National Forests, trails
won't get cleared,” Travsky said.
“Then what? People will make paths around downfall. On non-motorized trails, like the Medicine Bow Rail Trail, illegal motorized use will likely increase. People making roads on their own will increase,” she added.
Bilek said he thinks that a leaner, more efficient Forest Service staff will improve the situation.
“You’ll have the higher quality of employees to, not necessarily enforce the rules, but to manage the regulation of trail use,” he said.
Deadfall Everywhere
One criticism of Moore’s management of the Forest Service was that he pushed the agency toward environmentalism, rather than timber cutting and similar uses.
Bilek said he recreates on National Forests in Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado and Montana. And wherever he goes, he sees massive amounts of dead trees – some still standing, some tangled up in deadfall on the ground.
All of that is a recipe for more huge wildfires. And Bilek said that under Schultz’s leadership, he expects the Forest Service to get more aggressive about clearing dead timber.
“I expect things to get better,” he said.
Travsky wasn’t as hopeful about how things might go, if Forest Service staff cuts continue.
We need our Forest Service personnel to manage the Forest and keep it from being a free-for-all,” she said.
Agency Has Little To Say
The Forest Service had little to say about the matter.
“We cannot speculate on the anticipated effects that this change in leadership will have on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland,” Forest Service national press team member Alan Abernethy wrote in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
