Our National Forests Are Under Attack, and Nobody is Even Talking About It!

 

You read that headline correctly. Our National Forests are under attack by forces that seek to dissolve the US Forest Service that manages them, and sell off our precious Public Lands to private interests that would seek to pillage them for their valuable resources, and/or limit access to those who can afford to pay their access fees. If you think I am deluded, pay attention, because while social media is full of pleas to save our national parks, nobody is paying attention to the National Forests. Although it has escaped media attention that the Park Service has regained multiple thousands of positions, the US Forest Service has lost 10,000 jobs, and is being told to eliminate another 7000 with little or no regard for its effects on families, homes, and the  economy or the communities and states they live in. Make no mistake about it, a cabal of primarily Western state senators and representatives, emboldened by the election of President Trump and his DOGE program under Elon Musk, are quietly clearcutting the caretakers of over one hundred and eighty-eight million acres of Public Land. OUR Public Lands.

Nobody is arguing that our national parks, the sanctuaries of our most unique natural, cultural, and historical lands, aren’t important, however it takes a lot more to shut down a national park than to do so with National Forest lands. To eliminate as much as thirty percent of the Forest Service workforce will place Irreparable harm on an agency that was already short-staffed before they were ordered to eliminate 7500 primarily seasonal positions last fall, followed by a 3000-employee cut on Valentine’s Day. This is being done behind our backs, folks. While your attention is being focused justifiably and intentionally on things like USAID, Social Security, DEI, and National Parks, the Forest Service is being reduced to a force that cannot possibly keep up with the demands of managing the Public Lands in their care. Those trying to destroy the agency will seize this opportunity to say, “Look, we told you so! They can’t manage it so let’s transfer it to the states.” Then, when the states can’t afford to manage it, they’ll be forced to sell the lands off to the highest bidder. That is the endgame. If you don’t think this threat is real, witness that in January the Supreme Court ruled against a Utah-based attempt to seize federal lands in that state, just one in a string of attempts to wrest control of federal lands managed for us under the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in primarily, but not exclusively Western states.

While I certainly agree that government at all levels, but particularly at the federal level, has become bloated and rift with corruption and special interests that need to be eliminated, and a budget and massive deficit that need to be reduced, the US Forest Service is one of the best managers of both the taxpayer’s dollars entrusted to them and the land that it is their mission to manage. Selling off our Public Lands at fire sale prices will not effectively reduce the budget or the deficit. Selling off the timber on those lands while laying off the trained, educated, professional employees whose job it is to manage sustainable forests is both shortsighted and ultimately counterproductive. One of the Forest Service’s biggest problems is its historic inability to promote and lobby for itself. Many people in this country don’t even recognize the difference between a National Park and a National Forest, or that they are under two different, separate departments of the federal government with vastly different missions.

Unfortunately, the days of representative government are receding rapidly in our rearview mirrors. Party leaders on both sides of the aisle demand that senators and representatives vote their party line whether or not it is what the people who elected those representatives want or believe in. Both sides believe we, who sent them to Washington in the first place, are not smart enough to know what’s best for us. There needs to be a new way to reinforce the fact that the people we elect are there to represent us and our interests, not those of their biggest donors. Because of this, contacting your legislators may be only partially effective. But letter writing, emails, and phone calls have worked to restore over 3000 positions with the National Park Service. There is more to be done, but we need to get at it because there is the deadline of March 13th for the Forest Service to produce 7000 more cuts. Write, call, post, email. Make a ruckus. Let your and my elected representatives know that this has to stop. Tell them to end the attack on OUR Public Lands, OUR National Forests, before it’s too late to save them!

Join the Fight to Save Our National Forests!

My name is Hans Erdman, and I am a retired park ranger, Patrol Chief Emeritus of the Minnesota and Wisconsin volunteer Backcountry Trail Patrol Association, host of the Old Ranger’s Backcountry podcast and a number of blogs, pages, and other conservation related presence across social media. I am also a proud United States Forest Service volunteer and have been for the past thirty-five years, even while working as a career park ranger for other agencies.

Today, February 1st, is the 120^th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture, by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. I am posting this short message today, not just because of the Forest Service anniversary, but because this year, possibly more than any year since, our national forests, grasslands, and even our national parks are under attack. They are under attack from the same forces that Teddy Roosevelt and it's first Chief, Gifford Pinchot sought to protect our public lands from in 1905.

I am a life-long conservative, by every definition of the word. I am not a Republican nor a Democrat, but I will always vote for the person, regardless of affiliation, who most closely supports the things that I believe in. Do not even dare to accuse me of being anything but conservative. I was supporting Ronald Reagan when most of today’s legislators were still in diapers back in 1968. But I am also a conservationist and have been so even longer, when I decided my goal in life was to become the career that I lived and loved for twenty-six years as a Ranger. And I also believe that our government at both the state and federal level has become too big, too unwieldy, and too intrusive in our daily lives. It has also become too expensive for its own system to support. That much I can agree on with those who were attacking our public lands, however there is a group in Congress that is using the new administration’s push to reduce government spending as justification to gut our land management partners, specifically the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. During the first Trump administration, the same representatives from Utah and other Western states attempted to eliminate the division of law enforcement and investigations within the Forest Service, and even in the past month the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against another Utah-based lawsuit that tried to force the BLM to transfer the lands it manages in the beehive state to state control. These attacks have continued, and they always seem to originate with the Utah and Nevada delegations.

Our public lands in the United States are a unique and incredibly special heritage. No other country in the world has lands that are owned by us, the public, and allows access to those lands like our country does. Our national forests and grasslands comprise of 193 million acres that contribute over thirteen billion dollars to the national economy every year from forest visitors alone. Over 20 percent of our nation’s clean water supply comes from the more than 400,000 lakes and 60,000 miles of rivers and streams on national forest land. Most of those nearly 200 million acres are open to hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, bicycling, ATV riding, horseback riding, and myriads of other recreational opportunities. The Forest Service provides, excuse me, provided 7400 seasonal jobs that contributed to the local economy until last year when Congress drastically cut funding for seasonal employment. This argument of trimming the budget is a thinly veiled disguise. Their real intent is to eliminate both our public lands, and the agencies that manage so that they can be supposedly managed better by the respective, and most frequently western, states. Of course, those states do not have the budget, the manpower, or in many cases the training or desire to do so, and failing that, they would be forced to sell to the highest bidder. That is who these champions of budget reduction actually represent, those “highest bidders.”

Representative Emmer, for twenty-six years I worked as a park ranger in your district. Representative Stauber, I live in your district and have voted for you every time you’ve run for Congress, but if you choose to take sides with those who would steal our public lands and our unique American Heritage of wild and public places from us, I will add my voice to those who oppose you. In 1984 I stood toe to toe with Governor Mario Cuomo and argued with him when he tried to cut New York State’s Forest Ranger force, which I believe is one of the finest forest protection agencies in the world, in half because his downstate advisors told him they weren’t needed anymore. We won that battle, and, now as then, we’ll win this one.

I leave you with my favorite quote from one of my conservation heroes, the first chief of the United States Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot; “Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.”

We are the greatest number. Contact your members of Congress, contact your senators. As the song says, “This land is your land, this land is my land, this land was made for you and me.” Without your help, this land won’t be yours or mine or our grandchildren’s in the long run, if we don’t act now.

To paraphrase Smokey Bear, “Only you can protect our forests!”

Be Winter Aware

 

From our friends at Tahoe Nordic Search and Rescue:

(Back in the early days of the Backcountry Trail Patrol, we were responsible for the grooming and patrol of the ski trails at Sand Dunes State Forest. (Orrock, MN) Each year we held a Backcountry Safety Workshop that was modified for our region from the one that Tahoe Nordic SAR and Eldorado Backcountry Ski Patrol put on in the Sierra Nevada. Budget cuts and equipment issues ended grooming at Dunes in 2007.)

These simple tips can help reduce your chances of calling for a rescue. For more comprehensive tips, be sure to read our Winter Awareness Guide.

• Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return.

• Travel with a trusted partner. If you get separated from your group, stay put.

• Read the weather and avalanche forecast before you go.

• Carry emergency supplies, like a whistle, emergency blanket, spare warm clothes, headlamp, extra water and food, cell phone, map and compass, and emergency locator device. 

• Carry a stocked first aid kit and take a wilderness first aid course to learn how to treat common injuries. 

• Layer appropriately for the weather conditions and bring spare layers.

• In Avalanche Country, from the Adirondacks to the Sierras:

• • Carry avalanche safety gear—beacon, shovel, probe—and know how to use it.

American Birkebeiner Announces Birkie Bystander Medical Training Class

What to do until help arrives: communicating effectively with 911; treatment of cardiac arrest including CPR and AED use; and Stop the Bleed. Class size is limited for this 90 minute training, so sign up asap! This class will be offered on a recurring basis, so stay tuned for additional offerings in the future months.

Register now at Birkie Bystander Medical Training Class

Remembering Jerry

 From the North End Ski Club: REMEMBERING JERRY

The shock and disbelief at recent tragic passing of Jerry Wright have reverberated deeply throughout our local and regional active outdoor community. The North End Ski Club extends its deepest sympathies and support to Jerry’s wife, Laurie, and the many members of our community who knew and loved him.

Though he no longer skied, Jerry played a significant role in North End Ski Club events, particularly the North End Classic ski race, where he was a key member of our first aid team. One of the first and most fervent adopters of winter fat biking, as a member of the National Mountain Bike Patrol and a trained first responder, Jerry was originally recruited to patrol the race course on his fat bike in a year when we were short on first aid coverage. In subsequent years he became a stalwart, go-to volunteer for the race. There was never much of a question if Jerry would be available for the race, he just was. His service and support of the club was highly regarded, and we will miss his whole hearted engagement and professionalism.

His involvement with the North End Ski Club was just the tip of a very large iceberg that was Jerry’s dedication to the many organizations and causes in his life. Most well-known for his cycling escapades, as a volunteer Jerry devoted an unfathomable amount of time to the Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) where he served on CAMBA’s Trails Team, winter biking, and other committees and played an integral role in race and event planning, putting in an insane number of miles – hundreds and hundreds - marking race courses and doing other course preparation. He also became a leader in CAMBA’s trail rehab and maintenance efforts and was the first and most frequent volunteer to sign up for CAMBA’s bi-weekly trail work days throughout the summer and fall and frequently stepped in for CAMBA leadership dealing with timber sales and forestry issues.

Jerry was all things bicycling – road, gravel, singletrack, fat biking, bike packing - and never missed an opportunity for a group ride. A skilled bicycle mechanic, he was the consummate bike nerd and could regale you with the minutia of wheel building until your eyes glazed over.

One of his greatest cycling passions, however, was winter grooming of fat bike trails. Most of CAMBA’s recent success in winter biking can directly be attributed to Jerry’s vision and dedicated efforts to make it happen, again putting a crazy amount time and effort. He would totally geek out cobbling together custom grooming drags, repairing snowmobiles, and facilitating and coordinating a team of groomers who prepared over 70 miles of groomed winter bike trails, often in difficult and challenging conditions.

His community engagement extended beyond riding the bike and grooming trails. As a member of Sawyer County Search and Rescue he again put in enormous hours in training and responding to incidents around the region. He took particular pleasure in working with the local NICA middle-school/high school mountain bike team.

And many may not know that Jerry was also an avid sailor. He was part of a volunteer crew on a boat out of Superior and sailed most weeks throughout the summer months. One can only imagine him as part of a team handling the lines and sheets, coming about on the Big Lake. He placed a high priority on his time on the boat and fiercely guarded those opportunities.

Jerry’s loss will leave a big hole, many holes actually, in our community. Memories of his involvement, antics, intellect, humor, and energy are many and widespread and will help temper the hurt and utter sadness and disappointment of his premature passing. But it will hurt for some time none the less.

Thank you Jerry for who you were and everything you’ve done. You were truly one of a kind.

A Caring Bridge site is available for those who wish to leave messages of support and love for Jerry’s family and friends. https://www.caringbridge.org/.../b55357bf-59d7-11ef-a223...

A Go Fund Me site has also been set up to help provide support for Jerry’s family. https://www.gofundme.com/.../support-jerry-wrights...

From the Chief:

Jerry has been a vital and enthusiastic member of the Backcountry Trail Patrol since Gary Crandall introduced him to me over a decade ago. He was the one who rode the Fat Tire 40 beginning to end every year, worked almost all of the CAMBA events, and loved the winter rides. CAMBA will miss him, we will miss him, I will miss him. Thank you, our teammate and friend for everything you have been and done. You wore the jersey well.

25 Years of Service

 

It Is Already JULY!