The stewards of America’s forests
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Mention the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and fields of crops, cows, and the American farmer might come to mind. Part of the USDA’s scope is to support farmers, yes, but that’s only one of the roles it plays in Americans’ everyday lives. Another big job is managing the nation’s forests. In February, the department announced it would cut 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees as part of DOGE’s overall downsizing (though they have since been reinstated). Some of those roles potentially involve fieldwork related to wildfire management. And it’s unclear how many Forest Service workers took the deferred resignation offer. Here’s a look at the Forest Service and how it fits into the Agriculture Department ahead of summertime and wildfire season. (It's already starting in some places. The National Weather Service placed parts of the Midwest and Great Plains on high alert for fires this week.) |
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The Agriculture Department
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The Agriculture Department’s responsibilities encompass everything from agriculture and natural resources to nutrition to rural development. In fiscal year 2024, it spent $203.4 billion, or about 3% of the $6.78 trillion the federal government spent overall. It was the seventh-largest federal agency by spending.
IIts highest-spending division was the Food and Nutrition Service (which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP or food stamps. More on that next week!), which dwarfed all other subagencies by spending $147.4 billion. The Forest Service was second, at $11.3 billion. |
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How the Forest System fits in
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The National Forest System comprises 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering 193 million acres. The Forest Service helps not just state, local, and tribal governments with forest management, but private landowners as well. That adds up to about 900 million acres — about 40% the land area of the entire country — that the service helps steward.
As of September 2024, about 98,000 people worked for the USDA. That’s around 4.3% of the total federal civilian workforce, and 8% fewer employees than in 2010.
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The Forest Service had 39,285 employees, most of which (30,452) were in full-time, non-seasonal positions. This is down from the most recent high of 42,351 employees overall in September 2010.
Nearly 39% of Forest Service employees — or 15,213 — were forestry technicians. These workers perform a wide range of duties, including wildfire suppression, conducting field studies, and planning recreational activities on Forest Service land.
A sampling of other top Forestry Service jobs includes:
- General admin, clerical, and office services: 5,559 people
- General natural resources management and biological sciences: 2,462
- Engineering and architecture: 1,467
The agency had 363 people listed in “wildland fire management” roles. |
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The costs of fighting wildfires
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The costs associated with suppressing wildfires have risen over the years, even after adjusting for inflation. Suppression costs were less than $2.0 billion until the turn of the last century. They first hit $3.0 billion in 2017. The Forest Service handles most of these costs with help from the Department of the Interior. The service requested about $3.04 billion for wildfire suppression operations in 2025, up 6.4% from the $2.85 billion it’s estimated to have spent the year prior. |
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The National Park Service, part of the Interior Department, recently announced plans to cut more than 1,000 workers. This comes after 1,000 probationary employees were let go in February (though many of those workers were reinstated as part of a court order). It’s unclear if these roles are directly or indirectly involved in fighting wildfires. However, some workers have a “red card” wildfire fighting certification, regardless of their day-to-day work. To wrap up, we’ll leave you with this: Only you can prevent forest fires, but only Smokey Bear has a personalized zip code: 20252. (Okay, one other individual has their own zip code: the president. But that’s it!)
We’ll see you next week.
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