Already struggling to close a multibillion-dollar maintenance backlog on lands it manages, the Forest Service may have to rely more on private donors and contractors to care for the national forest system under the second Trump administration, people who work with the agency say.
Groups that work with the Forest Service, such as the National Forest Foundation, said they’re gearing up to do more in the coming years, including raising more money from individuals and corporations to thin overgrown forests, upgrade camping areas and make other improvements throughout the 193-million-acre system.
A budget crunch has already forced the Forest Service to suspend seasonal hiring — and that’s before the incoming administration’s strategy of cutting spending and federal employment kicks in.
While the NFF can’t predict how spending at the Forest Service will unfold in the upcoming administration, the group is “in close communication” with the agency about its needs in the year ahead, said President and CEO Dieter Fenkart-Froeschl.
