As the Forest Service contracts with slashed staff and funding, local communities are stepping up with funding for backcountry trail crews, visitor education campaigns and management of campsites and trailheads. 

“These folks need help. We know how important it is to have a physical human presence out there,” said Dave Ochs, the head of the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association, which is administering $62,500 in local funding to support three seasonal Forest Service employees around Crested Butte. “Let’s help our partners. They are in need and we care very much for our backyard.”

The Gunnison National Forest is not hiring any seasonal workers this summer, leaving a long list of tasks typically done by 12 temporary workers who open trails, handle deferred maintenance, manage trailheads and pit toilets and work with outfitters and guides. Across Colorado, federal land managers are seeing a growing number of staffers who have taken buyouts or been laid off. They also are not hiring seasonal workers who help manage the crush of summer visitors. 

This is a scene unfolding across Colorado’s public lands as communities labor to fill gaps left by the sudden retraction of the federal government under the Trump Administration. 

Read more from Jason Blevins at ColoradoSun.com.

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