As someone who has spent the past decade exploring Colorado’s beautiful public lands, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when our public lands are neglected. Without management and tending, our trails, trailheads, bathrooms and campgrounds fall into disrepair. Forest health deteriorates, endangering our natural resources and fueling increasingly dangerous wildfires.
That’s why I’m deeply concerned about the waves of staffing cuts that are tearing through the very agencies responsible for managing Colorado’s public lands, and in turn keeping visitors and local communities safe.
Alongside employees from the U.S. Forest Service and other community partners, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Colorado U.S. Rep Joe Neguse during a site visit to the Continental Divide Trail — a meeting that gave us a chance to elevate the importance of healthy public lands. I appreciate that Neguse has advocated for not only our public lands, but also for the park rangers, wildfire fighters and experts who steward them.
During this meeting we discussed how, since January, the Trump administration has undertaken massive cuts, gutting the federal workforce across numerous agencies. Now, they’re turning their attention to the national public lands agencies. Between January and June, the National Park Service lost 24% of its permanent staff.
Now, as the House and Senate work toward a fiscal year 2026 budget, they are facing a budget request from the administration, which proposed to cut funding by 30% at the National Park Service and 65% at the Forest Service. Though neither the House nor the Senate adopted these recommendations, the request from the president was an attempt to make the largest cuts to these agencies’ budgets in history.
Budget cuts of any scale at these agencies will deplete already short-staffed agencies of the resources needed to undertake their most critical functions, like protecting communities from wildfires and ensuring safe access to public lands.
These federal employees are the backbone of Colorado’s way of life, culture and economy. When wildfires rage across the state, threatening communities, ecosystems and beloved places, these are the first individuals to respond. They are also the biologists who help protect fish and game populations, and the boots-on-the-ground workers who keep trails, campgrounds and forest roads safe and enjoyable for hikers, hunters, anglers and families.
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Along the Continental Divide Trail, federal employees clear hazards from roads and trails, prevent destructive wildfires, conduct search and rescue, and develop resources that help the public explore nature in their backyard.
Public lands aren’t just a source of pride in Colorado, they are our way of life. The outdoor recreation industry makes up over 3% of Colorado’s gross domestic product, generating over $11.2 billion in tax revenue and supporting over 130,000 jobs.
With over a hundred thousand acres across Colorado’s Western Slope already burned this year, it’s terrifying to think that the jobs of the public servants who are battling these deadly wildfires could be in jeopardy.
We need Colorado’s elected officials on both sides of the aisle to take action to defend our federal workforce and the public lands they protect. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet, alongside Neguse, have demonstrated their ongoing commitment to advocating for more resources for our public lands agencies and protecting park rangers and land management employees.
Last week, Neguse cosponsored a bill that would place a much-needed moratorium on these reckless reductions in force at the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service.
Colorado Reps. Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank and Lauren Boebert, all of whom sit on the House Committee on Natural Resources, have so far been silent on these bills. Colorado’s essential federal employees are not a partisan issue.
Recently, Hurd and his Republican colleagues from along the Continental Divide stood firm against the indiscriminate sale of public lands — now it’s time to turn that leadership toward protecting the workforce that stewards these beloved places. Every community across the state deserves to be safe from wildfires while also being able to enjoy the state’s mountains, rivers and open spaces.
Protecting the people who steward these lands is critical to preserving the natural heritage that all Coloradans hold dear.
Congressmen Hurd and Crank and Congresswoman Boebert, this is your moment to stand up for Colorado’s outdoor traditions and for the communities that depend on them. Please support the Saving the Department of the Interior’s Workforce Act and the Saving the Forest Service’s Workforce Act. The future of our public lands depends on it.
Jordan Williams, of Fort Collins, is the Colorado regional representative for the Continental Divide Trail Coalition.
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