Cuts in federal workforce having impacts on Central Oregon national forests

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Impacts are being felt and layoffs are occurring on Central Oregon national forests under the Trump administration's recent budget cuts and federal workforce reductions.

KTVZ News' Harley Coldiron reports on those developments, including comments from laid-off Deschutes National Forest worker Liz Crandall.

A U.S. Forest Service representative provided this statement to KTVZ News:

“(Agriculture) Secretary (Leslie) Rollins fully supports the President’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA’s many services to the American people. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.

"As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters. Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) funding. It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration hired thousands of people with no plan in place to pay them long-term. Secretary Rollins is committed to preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted.”