A slide from the presentation Forest Service officials gave this week to staffers for Southwestern congressional staffers. An aide told Source NM that officials refused more than 10 times to say how many Forest Service employees were fired in the region. (Slide obtained by Source NM)
An annual wildfire briefing earlier this week between staffers for Southwestern members of Congress and Forest Service officials was unusual for two reasons, according to a congressional aide in attendance:
First, the private briefing happened about a month earlier than is typical, a sign of the acute risk of wildfires this season in New Mexico and Arizona amid years of climate change-caused drought and especially low snowpack this spring.
Second, even as Forest Service officials laid out alarming weather forecasts and wildfire predictions, they refused more than 10 times in the meeting to say how many Forest Service employees had been fired, how many resigned and what might come of wildfire dispatch centers if the Trump administration terminates their leases.
“We’ll have to send this to Washington and they will get back to you,” was the standard response, according to a Congressional aide who asked to remain anonymous to preserve the aide’s ability to have candid conversations with government officials.
The meeting embodied how fraught the relationship has become between Forest Service and congressional staff amid President Donald Trump’s blunt efforts to slash federal spending. New edicts require D.C.-level officials to approve all communications, including those with members of Congress or their staffs.
As a result, the aide said that what has for years been a free-flowing conversation about the upcoming fire season, with candid discussions of staffing levels and the effect of climate change on the region’s snowpack and forests, instead unfolded as a tense and frustrating 2.5-hour lecture during which the word “climate” was never mentioned.
The unique wildfire risk in the Southwest this season made the change in tone all the more stark, the aide said. According to the Forest Service’s slideshow presentation, which Source NM obtained, above-normal temperatures, prolonged drought, proliferation of fine fuels and near-record-low snowpack will all factor into an “early overall start to the large fire season.”
The hazardous conditions present so early this fire season mean there will be few opportunities and resources to conduct prescribed burns, according to the presentation.
Frustration among the 50 or so staffers on the call grew and even spread to some lower-level Forest Service employees who could be seen on video holding their faces in their hands or throwing their arms up, the aide told Source New Mexico. “‘Stonewalling’ is the best way to put it,” the aide said.
As the call went on and Forest Service officials continued talking through the latest forecasts, anger spilled into the chat feature of the virtual Teams meeting.
“We have been in touch with your Washington DC office and they would not speak to any personnel issues,” one staffer wrote, according to screenshots of the chats Source NM obtained. “They will not give anyone information as to how many staff have been fired.”
“Don’t we have someone from the Washington Office on the call?” another staffer wrote.
“This is unheard of,” the first staffer added, “to not communicate important issues that put our communities at risk.”
Another staffer noted in the chat that “the questions about regional staffing and recent terminations are easily anticipated, and have already been asked by multiple Congressional offices. The information is readily available to the [Forest Service],” prompting four staffers to “like” the comment.
As Forest Service officials noted on the call, New Mexico and Arizona face a potentially devastating wildfire season.
Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture fired nearly 5,700 probationary employees, an estimated 75% of whom had “red cards,” meaning they can be recruited to help suppress wildfires if needed.
Two judges this week ruled the Trump administration’s firing of probationary employees illegal and the federal Merit Systems Protection Board had previously paused the firings for 45 days. The status of those employees, and whether they’ve been able to return to work as ordered, remains uncertain, the aide and other sources told Source.
In addition to the firings, two New Mexico offices housing interagency wildfire dispatch centers may close due to federal lease terminations. The Albuquerque Interagency Dispatch Center monitors for blazes in Central New Mexico and parts of Oklahoma and Texas, and the Silver City center covers most of Southwestern New Mexico, including the Gila National Forest.
Source requested an interview with New Mexico State Forester Laura McCarthy, who said she attended the first hour of the meeting. She responded to a list of questions via email, in which she said she believes staffing, aviation and ground resources will be adequate this fire season.
Still, “The conditions are formidable, with abundant fine fuel that will carry fire if it starts on a windy day,” she told Source New Mexico in an email Thursday.
The aide who spoke to Source New Mexico said most staffers were concerned about whether the Forest Service would have enough personnel to adequately respond to one or more big wildfires in the Southwest this season.
A Forest Service official said in the presentation that 1,500 personnel will be available in the Southwest region at the “peak of the fire season,” and that those numbers will be “similar to 2024 capacities.” The slide also said that “onboarding efforts are ongoing.”
Despite that claim in the presentation, staffers remained skeptical after several follow-up questions, the aide said.
“Even if the answer was, ‘We are fully staffed in that one specific area,’ they still couldn’t say, ‘We don’t anticipate operations being impacted,’” the aide said.
The pre-fire season briefing occurs every year, usually with less tension, the aide said, and is vital for keeping members of Congress up-to-speed on where things stand and what to expect if and when the first spark ignites that year. Congressional offices often stay heavily involved in emergency response, including helping constituents obtain disaster assistance.
“We’ve never had issues with communication and correspondence, because this is something that the congressional delegations, just across the board with the Forest Service, we are all invested in making sure that we are able to respond to fires the best way possible,” the aide said.
But that collaboration was completely absent Tuesday. The officials from Washington, D.C. on the call, while they rarely spoke, made their presence well-known, the aide said.
The aide has participated in these briefings for years and said, “It’s the first time that’s happened. The individuals on the call from the Washington office also would not answer questions. They were ultimately there to make sure that those questions weren’t answered.”
Are you an employee or former employee at dispatch centers or other national forests in New Mexico? Reach out to reporter Patrick Lohmann securely on Signal at Plohmann.61 or by using this link.
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.
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