Layoffs Possible For Clearwater, Nez Perce Forests Northern Region Budget Move Could Mean Loss Of 400 Jobs

The Northern region of the U.S. Forest Service, which includes the Nez Perce and Clearwater national forests, is looking at budget cuts in the next few months that may mean combining the two forests and laying off 400 people regionwide.

Forest employees were notified Monday by a letter announcing a $20 million to $30 million anticipated decline in the northern region budget during the next two fiscal years and a number of options to reduce individual forests’ budgets.

Hal Salwasser, a regional forester, said a sharp decline in trust funds generated from timber sale receipts will create the most significant impact on forest programs.

“Our over-all budgets have been steadily decreasing, yet our organization and fixed costs have either increased or remained constant. We must make substantive changes if we are to meet on-the-ground needs,” Salwasser said. “We want to maintain healthy lands and provide people with the goods and services they want.”

The proposal would eliminate 400 of about 3,000 jobs in the region. Region 1, the northern region, includes forests in northern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and northwest South Dakota.

What this cutback means for the Nez Perce and Clearwater forests is not yet clear. Both Deanna Riebe of the Clearwater and Coy G. Jemmett, supervisor of the Nez Perce, said employee layoffs are almost certain, although nobody knows how many.

Both forests employ a little more than 200 permanent and another 100 seasonal workers.

“We’ve been looking at all kinds of ways to be more efficient and do more with less and just try to squeeze all we can out of the dollar,” Riebe said. “What it boils down to is in many areas they’re suggesting that they centralize operations in the regional office (in Missoula) and that it would save a lot of money doing that.”

Jemmett said the Nez Perce Forest laid off a number of employees last year and there is concern about how many more people a new round of cuts will affect.

Riebe and Jemmett said public input is being sought on the proposal for the next couple of weeks.

Among the proposals on the regional level are placing a cap on travel, training, uniform and supply budgets, moving out of a federal building into a less expensive location, making a 50 percent reduction in vehicle fleet and eliminating first aid kits and wellness programs.

At the local level proposals include reducing the three forests in the northern region, including the Panhandle, Clearwater and the Nez Perce, to two forests and possibly establishing a joint supervisor’s office at Lewiston. Riebe said the Nez Perce and Clearwater forests are already combining resources on projects such as fire management, timber and lands programs.