SUPERIOR NATIONAL FOREST – What otherwise would have been an important week of planning for the upcoming paddling season in the Boundary Waters transformed into a time of uncertainty and confusion for many employees of the U.S. Forest Service.
A series of letters and emails sent from multiple agencies in Washington D.C. this week – including a missive sent Friday, Jan. 31 from the director of the United States Department of Agriculture – have many wondering about their future with the Forest Service.
Around 4:50 p.m. Friday, Superior National Forest employees and others who work at the USDA, which oversees the Forest Service, received an email sent by USDA Chief of Staff Kailee Tkacz Buller. Buller was recently appointed to the position by President Trump. The letter sent shockwaves through the staff who work on Superior National Forest, according to a Forest Service employee who spoke with Paddle and Portage Boundary Waters Media on Jan. 31.
The letter reads, in part, “As we continue the work that the American people have mandated and ensure implementation of President Trump’s Executive Orders, we wanted to be fully transparent about actions underway:
USDA has complied with the Office of Personnel Management’s data call requesting that agencies identify all employees on probationary periods, who have served less than a year in a competitive service appointment, or who have served less than two years in an excepted service appointment. It is important for each employee on a probationary period to know their status. We will begin notifying probationary employees of their status and will complete notifications by the close of business on Monday, Feb. 3. USDA Agencies and Staff Offices will also provide the list of employees covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement to the respective unions.”
The statement and overall content of the letter led some staff on Superior National Forest to believe the Trump administration was “doubling down” on their efforts to get federal employees to resign in an attempt to shrink the size of government. The notion is further supported by a statement posted in the FAQ posted to a federal website and shared with employees by multiple agencies.
“We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so,” the FAQ reads. “The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.”
Earlier in the week, in a letter sent Jan. 28, the Trump administration offered buyouts to many federal workers, including nearly all the employees on Superior National Forest. That letter, which was drafted by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, said federal employees had from that day to Feb. 6 to decide if they would like to resign, or potentially risk being eliminated from the federal government workforce.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people to the best of your abilities and look forward to working together as part of an improved federal workforce,” the memo reads. “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”
The letter was shared with Paddle and Portage media in Grand Marais by a staff person from Superior National Forest who wished to remain anonymous. It is now available online on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management website.
There is widespread speculation that these orders, directives, and suggestions from Washington D.C. will end up in court or potentially be blocked by other legal actions. However, the narrative Friday from some staff on Superior National Forest was grim regarding the uncertainty of the situation and the overall tone of the letters employees received from the nation’s capital this week.
The news of a potential massive shakeup of the federal workforce came on the eve of what has become the busiest days of the year for permit sales for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Permits for the 2025 quota season, which begins May 1, went on sale Wednesday, Jan. 29.
Paddle and Portage staff reached out to officials from Superior National Forest earlier this week about a variety of topics, including communication on matters such as this. A response from Joy VanDrie, a spokesperson for Superior National Forest, said: “Thank you for your inquiry, however at this time we are unable to locally respond to any media inquiries.
Please send your inquiry to: SM.FS. pressoffice@usda.gov
Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
VanDrie said she was unable to provide further information.
When Paddle and Portage sent a media request to the email VanDrie directed us to, we received the following response a day later from Wade Muehlhof, with the Forest Service’s National Press Team:
“Public affairs work continues as usual for the USDA Forest Service. Our policy is to provide the public, through the news media, with factual, accurate, and timely information about the USDA Forest Service’s policies, programs, and activities as they relate to the management, protection, and use of National Forest System lands, and to the State and Private Forestry, Research and Development, and International Programs,” Muehlhof wrote.
The news of possible widespread layoffs on Superior National Forest comes on the heels of a troubling report from late last year when it became apparent that the agency would be short-staffed heading into the busy summer season. This summer, the federal agency will hire limited numbers of seasonal staff, most of them people to fight fires, but temporary summer hires for all other roles — like maintaining portages, digging latrines, issuing permits, and upkeep at campsites in the BWCA Wilderness — will be on hold.
The financial woes are not unique to Superior National Forest. As Paddle and Portage reported last fall, this is a nationwide issue for the Forest Service, according to Tom Hall, the forest supervisor for Superior National Forest, which includes the entire BWCA Wilderness.
Meanwhile, in conversations last week with multiple Forest Service employees who work on Superior National Forest, there is mounting concern about the impacts staff reductions could have in the BWCA Wilderness this summer and beyond. Challenges ranged from the ability to issue permits to adequate firefighting efforts if a wildfire breaks out on Superior National Forest this summer. One source suggested that BWCA Wilderness permits could, in a sense, become “obsolete” if there is essentially nobody in the backcountry to enforce the rules and regulations of the nation’s most visited wilderness.
First published February 1, 2025 on PaddleandPortage.com. Printed with permission of Joe Friedrichs.
