Trail projects around the state have kept Wyoming Pathways busy in recent years. Fueled both by the growing popularity of outdoor recreation and by statewide interest in nurturing the industry, the nonprofit group has worked with local and federal partners to develop trails from Togwotee Pass near Dubois to Pole Mountain near Laramie and Commissary Ridge near Kemmerer.
Wyoming Pathways Executive Director Mike Kusiek expects that pace to slow if not halt due to the Trump administration’s recent cuts that resulted in untold job losses in federal offices managing Wyoming’s national forests, parks and other public lands. Federal spending freezes will also surely damper the work, he said.
“Ninety percent of our budget is federal funds to get work done” on national forest and Bureau of Land Management land, Kusiek said. “Funding streams are frozen.”
Even more discouraging, he said, is this: If those funds become unfrozen, “do we still have enough people working on the landscape to help deploy them?”
Questions like Kusiek’s are hovering over Wyoming’s outdoor recreation industry, which has been bulking up in recent years as increasing crowds flock to the state’s national parks, mountain biking networks, snowmobile trail destinations, ski hills and fishing waters.
The state government created a trust fund specifically to pay for outdoor recreation infrastructure. Yellowstone National Park tallied its second-highest annual visitation in 2024 at 4.7 million. So many people camped on national forests that districts revised rules and leaned on volunteer labor. Trail crews built miles of pathway to make room for more users, climbing rangers patrolled popular crags and national park superintendents experimented with shuttles to alleviate crowding.
Now, however, a community that many argue is already understaffed to meet increasing demand has taken a large hit. And advocates are worried.
“Public land management is the cornerstone of Wyoming’s outdoor recreation sector,” said Addi Jenkins, executive director of Wyoming Outdoor Recreation Business Alliance. In a state where nearly 50% of the land is public, she said, these layoffs threaten critical services to communities and businesses. “Without a well-staffed workforce, we risk losing the very resources that allow Wyoming’s outdoor economy to flourish and our way of life to persist.”
Of the 15,798 jobs that are identified in the Wyoming outdoor recreation sector, an estimated 884 are government related, said Dan McCoy, director of the Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality Initiative.
“Outdoor recreation is a big part of our economy in Wyoming,” he said, noting that the industry generated $2.2 billion last year.
The success of the industry rests in large part on capable management of public lands, the Wyoming Outdoor Council noted in a call to action this week.
“The agencies that manage the public lands … will now face significant constraints — not only in their ability to fight fires, maintain campgrounds and trails, and respond to emergencies but also in overseeing activities that allow for responsible multiple use of our public lands and support local economies,” the group’s email read.
After all, Jenkins said, a slowdown in crowds is unlikely.
“There is still going to be a good amount of tourism, but the experience might be degraded and those experiences may fall short of the satisfaction that we normally receive,” she said, which could do lasting harm to Wyoming’s reputation.
In a recent Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Commission meeting, agency Director David Glenn told the board that he has been unable to glean hard data from Wyoming’s federal agencies.
“We really don’t know how it’s going to affect outdoor recreation and other services in Wyoming, but we know it’s going to affect them to some degree,” Glenn said. In response, his agency is putting together a team to offer any needed support. “We’re thinking strategically, we’re thinking toward the future.”
“It may be that State Parks ends up helping out, keeping certain things open across the state while this stuff gets figured out with the federal government,” Glenn said.
Crown jewels
On Feb. 14, the federal government reportedly cut 1,000 positions from the National Park Service. It has been difficult to identify exactly how this impacted Wyoming’s parks. Public information officers from Yellowstone and Grand Teton routed inquiries to the D.C. office, which provided generic statements confirming only that the service will hire seasonal workers this summer.
However, Bill Wade with the Association of National Park Rangers said their best information indicates that Grand Teton lost five employees, while Yellowstone lost seven. As a comparison, Shenandoah lost 15 employees and Rocky Mountain lost 12.
It’s a tumultuous time for NPS employees, Wade said.
“I can tell you that right now there is a huge amount of uncertainty and confusion throughout the Park Service,” said Wade, a retired ranger himself. “The term I keep hearing is ‘devastated.’”
It’s positive news that the service is bringing on seasonal workers, he said, but onboarding them is a big task that will likely be slowed by the chaos.
“So while it will help in the long run, there may still be some shortages and some impacts in the early part” of the coming season, he said. The whiplash of news, hearsay and rumor, from lawsuits to new email demands and threats of further layoffs, is nearly impossible to keep up with.
To add insult to injury, he said, the Trump administration placed a $1 spending limit on government credit cards. “Parks usually use those cards to pay utility bills and buy toilet paper, travel and those types of things.”
NPS cuts sparked outcry from conservation groups and others worried about stewardship and safety at the popular destinations.
Managing crowds
In Yellowstone National Park, which has seen annual visitation grow from 3.2 million in 2013 to 4.7 million in 2024, Superintendent Cam Sholly has long advocated for increased staff. Worker levels need to grow to handle the crowds, he told WyoFile in September.
“You need people to manage people, and you need people to protect this park,” Sholly said.
Within the ranks of employees, confusion and worry dominate. One employee of Grand Teton National Park, who asked to speak anonymously for fear of reprisal, told WyoFile that park workers are “concerned for our parks, our communities and our colleagues.” The employee has seen preliminary indications that their job will be secure this summer, though it’s more than a month past the time of year when their position is typically confirmed.
National Park Service system staffing has eroded by 20% since 2010 while parks have experienced a 16% increase in visitation, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
“We were already operating at somewhat of a constrained budget, constrained capacity for staffers,” said NPCA Northern Rockies Connectivity Program Manager Allison Michalski. “So this is really compounding, and I would say amplifying, some of those challenges.”
Cuts could have ripple effects on the robust visitor economy in park gateway communities like Jackson Hole, she said. They could also hamper emergency response efforts, including wildfire prevention and response. However, she said, so much is still uncertain.
“It’s another big ‘we don’t know yet,’ due to the lack of transparency and due to the challenges of getting good information,” she said. For the upcoming season in Wyoming, she said, it could look like any of the following: “Shorter visitor center hours, delayed openings, closed campgrounds, maintenance backlogs, trash and sanitation issues, restroom issues … and potentially public safety concerns.”
Reflecting that uncertainty, the NPS press team comments offer little specifics.
“The NPS is assessing our most critical staffing needs for park operations for the coming season and is working to hire key positions,” a February statement read. “The NPS is committed to protecting public lands, infrastructure, and communities while ensuring public access.”
Local economies
The federal government owns 97% of the land in Teton County, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton, “so we just have a lot of federal staffers here who are really ingrained in our community and do the very difficult and specialized job of protecting resources,” Michalski said.
A crowd gathered at the Jackson Town Square last weekend to protest cuts to the federal workforce. Participants held signs in support of the federal workforce and hung an upside-down American flag, a symbol of distress, near the town’s iconic antler arch.
The local impacts to northwestern Wyoming also prompted the Teton County Board of Commissioners to pen a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation expressing “deep concern and frustration” over the layoffs.
“Public lands in Teton County are the basis of our economic prosperity,” the Feb. 21 letter stated. “They must be properly managed and staffed … Staff that have been recently fired protect public safety, improving the experience of millions of annual visitors.”
Understaffing the public land management agencies, it continued, “will harm local businesses and the employees who drive our economy and sustain our community.” Commissioners asked the congresspeople to share any information.
The county board has not received a response, two commissioners confirmed this week.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton are huge attractions, but they are only a small part of the state’s public lands, which also include BLM badlands and deserts, mountainous national forests and state parks.
‘Who’s going to do the work?’
In Lander, job cuts gutted the Shoshone National Forest’s Washakie District office, which lost eight positions by late February, said retired Forest Service employee Bill Lee. A sign posted on the office door notified the public that the building didn’t have enough staff to remain open.
Fired employees included an archaeologist, NEPA coordinator and hydrology tech, Lee said, all “exceptional” workers. (A civil service board ruled Wednesday that thousands of fired USDA workers must get their jobs back at least temporarily, Politico reported, which could mean they get reinstated.)
“I think my big concern is it’s arbitrary, and now who’s going to do the work?” Lee said. The recent cuts aren’t the first bit of downsizing. Several positions, including his former position as a recreation specialist, were eliminated last fall in response to budget constraints.
“The stuff on the ground that affects the general public on a day-to-day basis, that’s been wiped out,” he said. The result will be a skeleton crew to man a 700,000-acre landscape, he said. “Repairing things, cleaning things, painting things, reconstructing things — that will not get done. So then it becomes, how can we take care of our bathrooms, campgrounds and our trails?”
The cuts have not been felt as acutely in Wyoming BLM offices.
Like Teton County, Wyoming Pathways wrote a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation asking for assistance. Kusiek hopes it spurs some relief.
In the meantime, many things in his world are stalled. For example, Kusiek said, Wyoming Pathways is involved in a project to repair 13-year-old flood damage near Saratoga. The project received federal Great American Outdoors Act funding to pay for it, but that’s now in question, he said. Trump signed the law during his first presidential term.
“We’ve already put in probably 200 hours of work,” Kusiek said. “We contracted with a bridge maker, because we have to replace three bridges.”
The bridge maker is understanding about delays, Kusiek said, “but those bridges are sitting in Texas waiting to be shipped to us.”
CORRECTION: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Bill Wade’s name. -Ed.
Elect idiots, expect idiocy, at all levels of government.
This article is so full of speculation that it’s worthless for determining any impact on Yellowstone. All we know is that 1000 probationary employees (meaning hired with in the last year) have been let go across 433 areas in the National Park System, along with service centers, regional offices and DC headquarters. On the average this is maybe 2 persons per area operation. Remember the jobs these people had were vacant before they were hired and most are entry level positions. Few, if any were in “critical” positions. Many NPS areas lost no positions because they had no probationary employees. Most don’t realize that Yellowstone has about 1000 employees and this article says that 7 were let go. On any given day in Yellowstone I’d bet that have more than 7 people on vacation or sick leave and somehow the Park keeps going. This doom and gloom about Parks closing and cutting back in services is just fear mongering. So many of the reports of visitor center hours and other reductions in service I’ve read about in NPS areas are existing routine seasonal cutbacks due to low winter visitation and should be revised when the season picks up. However, they are politically attributed to DOGE. Adequate staffing for many parks is an issue but that’s nothing new. The loss of a few employees now will have little effect on the public. Seasonal hires are the backbone of public service operations in most parks. Staffing of visitor centers, guided talks, law enforcement, search and rescue, restrooms and maintenance of facilities that are what the public needs during a busy season will be augmented as usually by over 5000 seasonal employees who will soon be coming on board. The parks will be just fine. Take a breath.
I agree that the federal debt is a big problem that has built up over the years and many federal admininstrations. So let’s fix it in an objective way, cutting where the impact is carefully analyzed. I don’t see that the cuts are done with care but possibly done with rapid political bluster to achieve more control over certain voters and constituents. By the time the results of cuts are seen it may be difficult to correct any harm done. What is the big hurry? Let’s go from Ready, Fire, Aim to Ready, Aim, Fire.
President Trump has opened up oil, gas,coal and our mining companies to come back booming in Wyomig, all of these vital assets Wyoming has were shut down by the biden regime. Wyoming relies heavily on those industries to bring the biggest revenue to our state and allow jobs to open up in forestry, BLM and wildlife conservation in our state. I think these people who are worried about jobs, need to just trust and believe that they will have opportunities to move back into their field of interest when Wyoming can become wealthy and healthy again. We will always have people come visit and enjoy recreation here. Been here in this beautiful state over 50 years. Seen alot of good times, and bad. Wyoming will be great again! Hang in there, folks!
I love Wyoming, but this is clearly a responsibility of the state, and not federal, government.
How is it that you consistently get it wrong?
You manage to weave a bunch I don’t know into a tale of misery and woe. This is Wyoming. It is OUR state. I have listened keenly to what the president and DOGE has been saying. I have learned the process as a result. I have also come to understand that our nation has amassed a large debt from our overspending. In the hierarchy of needs, this does not rate, but that does not mean some, many or even all of your fears are invalid.
It does mean that WE need to step up. Our state needs to put our money where it makes the most sense. And maybe we as Wyomingites will have to volunteer (help complete tasks for no money) in order to make things happen.
The picture you painted is frightening to those who haven’t lived here long or who have a mindset that government and it’s money are the only answer. Instead of striking fear and anger in the heart of the reader, perhaps we readers would be better served to a call to action In a more meaningful way. How about talking to our county commissioners who could partner with various feral and state agencies to put some of our local citizenry into the breach to care for the shortfalls? Perhaps we could, as individuals, take it upon ourselves to clear trails in the spring. As a Wyomingites, hell as a rational person, when I come upon a problem, I feel a string in my mind to respond with a way forward, an answer if you will, in order to meet an end of goal. My first response is not who the hell is going to fix this for me or this should be somebody’s job. The idea that the park service doesn’t have TP in their budget and is forced to buy it with a government credit card speaks to a larger problem and makes me ask, What the hell is going on in government? And that is why we have this president and DOGE, because there is a fundamental flaw with government responsibility, namely that there is none.
I remember during the last time this man was president and attempted to rein in budgets, we in Wyoming and elsewhere, witnessed malicious compliance. It isn’t that malicious compliance doesn’t exist, rather the current secretaries of the various departments will not tolerate it. So we now have follow through. Personally I think they should start with selling off the stockpiles of guns and ammunition held by these various departments. Nothing scarier than a forest service ranger or a BLM employee carrying a gun.
“The idea that the park service doesn’t have TP in their budget and is forced to buy it with a government credit card speaks to a larger problem and makes me ask”
what are you talking about? You have to buy the supplies with the money from the budget, you dont write the things you need into a budget and they magically show up. Credit cards are how everything is acquired.
Charge higher user fees, it only makes sense that those who benefit should pay to maintain.
When government fraud and cronyism is left unchecked, the vast population of its citizenry are unduly and seriously harmed.
Correcting the problem is going to be painful. Recognizing the obvious and ignoring the “solutions” is not only incorrect, but harmful to people.
When ones funds are misplaced, mispent or stolen, your responsibility is to cut back and make sure that your limited resources are spend on the essentials.
The American citizens’ money and its resources were clearly stolen. The American People have been harmed, while some unduly benefited.
While debate on how to correct this serious
issue and solution, is a mature and fair response. There can unfortunately be no debate with those so blinded to the clear reality of the known facts.
On a closing note.
This article was so bias and specualtive in its presentation, that it is actually a hinderance and obstruction to a fair exchange on this topic.
Reading the comments from those who think all this chaos from Elon Musk and his Muskeviks (rhymes with Bolsheviks) is a good idea, I conclude they are profoundly ignorant of how government works. Government works with many thousands of networks that have been established over many decades, and these networks are connected in complex and multi-dimensional ways that simply do not respond positively to simple minded hacking and slashing. These Muskeviks have no idea what they’re doing and lack the intelligence, knowledge, and experience to truly root out “fraud, waste, and abuse.” They are instead creating fraud, waste, and abuse by their actions. They are claiming millions of dollars saved but then have to change their claims of savings downward by orders of magnitude. They are not saving, they are imposing costs upon the entire country. They are canceling contracts that have already reached their end, and claiming savings. They are lying. DOGE is a lie and an abusive fraud. All the while, Elon Musk is protecting his own government contracts for Tesla, SpaceX, and StarLink. The man’s corruption is palpable.
This in addition to the untold as yet millions, soon to be billions, in lost dollars to the American economy by dropping thousands of now unemployed government workers on the job market, thus driving wages down, which in turn means people can’t buy what they used to. The people who’ve lost their jobs won’t be spending their income on goods and services either because they no longer have an income. Etc. Etc. Etc.
An economy, like a government, works on complex, multi-dimensional networks; everything is connected to everything else. Start interfering in those networks, start breaking connections, things fall apart into recessions and depressions. That is what Donald Trump and his band of idiots is taking us to.
As the saying goes, you can’t fix stupid.
I can’t wait until the hurrahs from the Trumpers stop when they themselves lose their jobs, their savings, and their homes. Schadenfreude can be bitter.
Extending the tax cuts on the wealthy is a loss of $4.5 TRILLION dollars. For some reason, that seems to be OK. It’s a pretty sorry state of affairs when I pay more taxes than Dump et al.
Robert. I don’t think government employees know how government works. That has been decades in making.
The “waste, fraud, and abuse” that really should be the focus is being ignored. It is not to be found through the DOGE attacks on the federal workforce (real people, including veterans, who serve the American public) or the cutting and gutting of services the American people rely on. It is the tax avoidance by millionaires and billionaires that are costing America each and every year. “The nations millionaires and billionaires are evading more than $150 billion a year in taxes” according to the head of the IRS in 2024. According to a ProPublica report (June 8, 2021): in 2007 and 2011 Jeff Bezos paid 0 income tax. In 2018 Elon Musk paid 0 income tax. A median American household making around $70,000 paid a tax rate of around 14%, with the highest income of above $628,300 paid a tax rate of around 37%. From 2014-2018 the True Tax Rate of the following billionaires was….. Warren Buffett 0.10%, Jeff Bezos 0.98%, Michael Bloomberg 1.30%, Elon Musk 3.27%.
Pretty sure getting rid of a few gov jobs in Wy will promote tourists. Been here for 50 years, gov does nothing for promotion of Wy.
I emailed Barrasso, Lummis, and Hageman asking how many of their own staffers they are going to fire in support of Doge. I received two AI generated responses. Nice work. I am planning on asking them in person, when they show up in NW Wyoming, when they will be cleaning toilets up the Northfork. John loves the Cody parade so I’m sure he will be game to pitch in.
Those offices seemingly have not answered calls, emails or texts, so I hope someone has better luck.
This is what Wyoming voted for so I don’t feel sorry.
Eriks well said, the “spending oragy” is finally comin to an end, the price to enter it is high enough and so are the “management salaries” the “budget” is somehow not matching the ticket intake “ORGY” at it’s best I assume 4.7 million x entry ticket equals?
There’s a hole somewhere in the management budget but if the only orgy is the main focus then the disasters that happened are the offspring of the activities… Oh be ready AMERICANS, the numbers are going way down now to prove a point and the public is going to be so restricted lines for the toilet are going to be discouraging, let your imagination run…
Trump received 72 per cent of the vote in deep red WY.
Yes, we believe the government needs to be on the dave Ramsey plan and be responsible. Don’t feel sorry for us? We’re adults and can clear our own trails and tell the government to stop putting toilet paper on credit cards and instead, put it in your budget like a responsible adult. That said, I know most Wyomingites keep TP in their vehicle. It is Wyoming, after all.
Ron, you can imagine anything you want to. How many miles of trails need attention? How many man hours per year are dedicated to maintaining trails? Who prioritizes and organizes the work, plus schedules supplies, transportation, and oversight? Same thing with public campgrounds. How many citizens of Wyoming are equipped to clean public outhouses, haul trash, clean fire pits, maintain roads for these facilities? You seem to think a few guys/gals can spend a couple weekends and accomplish all of the necessary jobs. You are underestimating the work load and overestimating the capabilities and willingness to get the work done.
I don’t think Elon musk or Donald Trump know what they are doing. To make cutbacks you don’t have to fire all the employees. If they want to cut back have a team of accountants check it not a pair of lunatics. Trump is targeting the most vulnerable starving and poor people who won’t fight back. He is a bully and a sadist.
Partisan attacks, gotta love it. Yes we were much better off by quintupling our deficit and debt in the last 25 years, because that is the Hallmark of responsibility. I don’t think you understand compounding interest. Einstein said it was the “8th wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it, while he who does not, pays it”.
Did you forget Trump’s first term? He added 7.8 trillion dollars to our national debt. That’s not a partisan attack, that’s a simple accounting fact. If you believe that these next four years will honestly reduce our national debt then you’ve been duped not once but twice.
National Park employees being furloughed is just the tip of the iceberg with this new administration. The bigger picture and more important story is the cost to Americans with these ruthless tariffs that are being implemented or considered towards our long time trade partners (Canada, Mexico, etc.). American importers pay the additional taxes on an imported item, not the country of its origin. The American importer then passes that cost on to you and I. How can you possibly bring down inflation with this plan!
You want to bring the USA economy to its knees, this trade war the administration is conjuring up is the exact way to do it. You want to pay off the Federal deficit, you increase the GDP and expand it by reaching out internationally, not by constricting the opportunities available to expand it. China’s GDP grew leaps and bounds when they allowed international companies into their country. You want a stagnant economy, high unemployment with high inflation “Stagflation” for our country, that’s what’s coming with this administration’s plan!
People are failing to realize the United States of America is Bankrupt.
37 Trillion dollars can NOT be paid back.
This is only the beginning of the cuts, it will get FAR worse.
Raise taxes on the rich and businesses instead of giving them cuts.
Yes, the US has a debt problem. Yes, present and future cuts will hurt. How can the cuts be made to do the least damage to citizens and the earth? Will the cuts affect lower income families or fairly affect the rich? The problems have occured over many administrations. Will cuts be done quickly or carefully to minimize the effects on citizens? How important is this?
The BLM is unconstitutional.
Take back your land and manage it yourselves.
I live in California.
Why should I pay for your States land management?
Thank you!
Nonsense
Because it’s your land too.
You don’t pay anything for BLM land and never had. You don’t even pay to maintain the BLM land in your own state much less any other. The BLM is the only land management agency that turns a profit. They have a billion dollar budget and bring in 5 billion a year. 49% of that goes to the state the its earned in and the rest goes to the U.S. Treasury.
Great reporting! I have never seem an article with so many IF’S,BUT’S,MAYBE or could be. Maybe get a quote from dead people.
While the protesters are well-intentioned and obviously value things like the National Parks, it may seem the right thing to do to object to staff reductions in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Unfortunately, this amounts to wishful/magical thinking.
There is one inescapable fact: current Federal spending levels are financially unsustainable. Period. No really… PERIOD. Full stop. No “buts” allowed.
The wages of sin (in this case, irresponsible Federal deficit spending for decades and decades) eventually come due—and the grim reaper is DOGE.
At present, 16% of all taxes collected are used to pay interest to those who finance the national debt—that’s over $787,200,000,000 spent in 2024 with no direct benefit to the American people. Those interest payments total to be more than 2.5 times what the Federal government spends on wages and salaries for ALL civilian Federal employees. In other words, runaway spending for decades has given rise to DOGE as an unavoidable consequence of Congress’ refusal to live within their means.
While I certainly empathize with the challenges intrinsic to the rightsizing process, I would like to hear more about how Federal agencies are planning their approach as to how to do more with less.
A good pre-DOGE example is how the FCC went entirely electronic with their permits and licenses–thus eliminating the need to handle, process, and scan paper applications. It is my understanding that that move by the FCC resulted in substantial administrative cost reductions–along with substantial improvements to how quickly applications were processed. Did some FCC employees lose their jobs? Yes. Did the American people benefit from reduction in costs even as efficiency increased? Yes. Was this single thing enough to solve the Federal spending orgy? No—but at least it was a step in the right direction.
Despite what the protesters seem to think, the Federal government does not employ people for the sake of giving them wages (make-work). It is incumbent on the Federal government to fulfill their obligations to the people while consuming as little tax money as possible.
“The government which governs least governs best.” –Thomas Jefferson
Oh, and how many of the protesters are rushing to volunteer their time and labor for the trail maintenance mentioned in the article? I used to spend a week every Summer in my teenage years volunteering with PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club) doing that very maintenance. Spare me the whining of those who are not standing up and helping.
Protesting to “save Federal jobs” makes one part of the problem, not the solution.
If your own family was financially overextended, would you fire your household staff to save money and get out of debt—or would you just keep borrowing money until you can no longer pay your household staff—AND you go bankrupt, too?
Bravo Eriks!
At some point they are going to figure this blatant truth out.
The outlay for national parks and many other functions of government are minuscule compared to the many billions in tax cuts to Billionaires and subsidies to the mineral industries that benefit very few average Americans. Add the obscene waste and graft in the defense industries it’s in the Trillions.
Thanks for a voice of common sense
Excellent article!
Today’s New York Times describes how Trump-Burgum are telling Park Service NOT to report that last year’s visits to Nat. Parks were an all-time HIGH at the same time that they are cutting 1000s of employees! Meet the new MAGA (un)reality–they can’t face facts. Re: comment about debt? Trump past & future tax cuts are what caused balooning of debt!
Wyoming outdoors folks should pay attention to who your sporting goods stores are supporting. Ya, it’s a thing.
15 years and 25 TRILLION dollars ago, Americans were warned. If the National Debt was America’s number 1 security threat in 2010 what do you think it is X 3???
At some point the American whirlwind will be reaped.
Adm. Mike Mullen: ‘National Debt Is Our Biggest Security Threat’
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/adm-mike-mullen-national_n_624096
As the Senator Martin Heinrich from New Mexico puts it:
Republicans’ Plan:
Step One: Fire thousands of workers who manage our public lands
Step Two: Say these lands aren’t being managed and need to be transferred to states
Step Three: Sell the lands off to the highest bidder
Jack you are right. It will b e painful. We cannot continue to keep printing more and more money. We need to get immigration under control will help a lot with government spending for one. The country needs to figure what they want pay for. Illegal aliens (housing, food, school, communication, transportation, Medical care, criminal prosecution, incrassation ect….) or take care of US citizens needs and wants. Food for the poor, taking care of our veterans, relief from disasters, security at the borders, road, bridges, health care and this list goes on. WE have allow ourselves to come to this point. We need to fix it.
We can start by removing tax cuts for the wealthy.
Public lands management is not a free market profitable business, any losses that happen now are never going to be replaced.
As the Senator Martin Heinrich from New Mexico puts it:
Republicans’ Plan:
Step One: Fire thousands of workers who manage our public lands
Step Two: Say these lands aren’t being managed and need to be transferred to states
Step Three: Sell the lands off to the highest bidder
https://x.com/SenatorHeinrich/status/1894914093280014635
I’m sure the Chinese will be happy to buy all that land and cut down the trees for timber. They’re like locusts.
Make no mistake, DOGE and the Trump administration’s long game is to privatize public lands and essential government services. Exploiting public resources is always on the mind of corporate America. Time and time again we have seen essential services degraded and costs increase when the private sector gets involved: Medicare, hospitals, public campgrounds, Recreation.gov, water systems, ambulances, etc. The National Weather Service is just one more target. It provides virtually all of the data and modeling that private weather apps and websites use and NWS staff is second to none. DOGE is gutting the NWS’s workforce. Musk’s SpaceX has also been launching satellites for a foreign-owned weather company (tomorrow.io) that is poised to be the first in line to pillage the remains of the NWS and profit from from the public’s investment in the NWS. It will probably begin with some kind of contract to “manage” our weather infrastructure.