With federal cuts, groups look to fill gaps

Local trails and conservation organizations say they hope to fill in some of the gaps created by federal cuts to the National Forest crews this summer.

The Montana Conservation Corps will be operating this summer in the local woods, despite the future of its umbrella organization, Americorps, being in doubt.

An April 16 story in the Washington Post noted that most staff at the federal agency were placed on “administrative leave” and a week later, a story noted that it was ordered to cut $400 million in grants.

But MCC has survived.

“We are continuing as an Americorps program,” state director Jono McKinney said last week, saying they are continuing activities as planned.

That includes projects like clearing trails for the Forest Service and Park Service and pulling weeds. 

The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation will also be hard at work in the woods this summer, noted Executive Director Cliff Kipp. The organization has about 50 field projects planned and is recruiting and hiring 26 crew leaders, interns and apprentices, as well as visiting classrooms and community events to deliver wilderness education.

The organization has been doing trail and other work in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex for decades, but this year has been a challenging one. While it gets private donations from individuals and businesses, it too, gets federal grant funding, Kipp noted.

It just recently learned that some of that funding to hire four trail technicians had been released.

The organization also hosts trips where volunteers complete projects in the wilderness. There’s about 37 of those on tap. Kipp said anyone interested should go to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation’s website to sign up at bmwf.org.

As for MCC locally, projects are planned in Glacier National Park doing weed control and work on the Swiftcurrent Trail in Many Glacier. They’ll also do work on the Kootenai National Forest both in forest management and trail work. Closer to Columbia Falls they’ll be working with Gateway to Glacier Trails and a crew will be spending 10 weeks in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

But that’s still only about half of what they normally do in a summer, said MCC Northern Rockies Director Gavin Wisdom.

With Forest Service trail crews slashed this summer, MMC’s work, along with nonprofits, will likely be paramount this summer in keeping trails open and accessible.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced it was terminating thousands of probationary employees at the Forest Service nationwide. They were reinstated for a little over a month, but that expired on April 18.

The reinstatement was a moot point anyway, as many Forest Service seasonals don’t start work until late April or early May.

The Backcountry Horsemen of the Flathead also have a full slate of projects this summer, noted president Keni Hopkins, including a big project to build a potable water system at Meadow Creek.

But the federal cuts are troublesome. It’s expensive to haul horses into the wilderness. In past years, the Forest Service would reimburse them for fuel costs. Hopkins said they aren’t expecting that this year. In addition, in order to do Forest Service projects, they have to have training in horse safety, first aid and saw use. Those classes also have costs which the Forest Service would cover, but Hopkins said they aren’t expecting that to happen this year. 

Hopkins said they have a financial agreement with the Forest Service on the water system at Meadow Creek as well, but they’re not sure they’ll see that reimbursement, either.

Having said that, members are all too willing to help, she said. And they recognize they’ll likely have to eat expenses.

“I think our volunteerism is really up this year,” she said.

Up the North Fork, the North Fork Trails Association has already started work clearing trails, said president Bill Walker. He said that’s typically the case, Forest Service cuts or not. They start in the lower half of the North Fork at Glacier Rim and then work their way north in the early season. Then in a typical summer, Forest Service trail crews come on in June to help.

But this summer, there’s a skeleton Forest Service crew in the Glacier View District.

“We’ll probably make a harder push for volunteers this year,” Walker said. “We’ll lean into it a little harder to get things done.”

Kipp said that’s the similar sentiment in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. People see the news about the cuts to federal staff and want to help. Businesses are stepping up as well.

“People have been generous in the face of a reduced federal workforce,” he said.

The foundation is currently in a fundraising campaign to raise $65,000 to fully fund all of its upcoming 2025 projects.

But he cautioned that organizations like the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation still need agency support.

“We need their structure to exist,” he said.

For McKinney and Kipp, there’s a bigger picture to look at as well. Many people who forged careers in land agencies started by working humble jobs in the woods, where they learn about hardship and leadership and working as a team.

Now with the uncertainty, they may look elsewhere for careers.

“They’ll lose faith in a viable career path. That’s too bad,” Kipp said.

McKinney also expressed concern about his fellow Americorps colleagues.

“I have a lot of empathy for (them),” he said.