The Trump administration’s mass firings of federal employees have hit McCall hard, especially because the Forest Service is one of the area’s most important employers.
A steward with the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) who works on the Payette National Forest estimated some 50 of his colleagues had been let go, with dozens more on neighboring forests. The agency did not confirm the number of firings on that forest, but did say that the U.S. Department of Agriculture – the Forest Service’s parent agency – “has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service,” according to a statement.
Other public land agencies, like the U.S. Interior Department, are also reportedly carrying out major layoffs.
With a steady snow falling, recently fired Forest Service employees and dozens of local supporters gathered Monday in downtown McCall, just off the shore of the town’s iconic Payette Lake. It was one of a number of similar protests in Idaho and across the country.
The crowd eventually swelled to nearly 150, with many passing motorists honking their support.
For many of those fired, the community support was welcome after a trying week. On Thursday, Kelly Grenquist received news that she was losing her wildlife technician position. The memo addressed to her read, in part, that she had not shown that her “further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.”
Up until last week, she worked with endangered species, including her favorite animal – the wolverine.
“If you don't understand something, you can't take proper care of it,” she said.
She got the job less than a year ago, and lived in federal employee housing. But that housing is going away with her job in early March – or perhaps even sooner. Affordable rentals in tourism-dependent McCall are scarce, leaving her with few options. She has a camper, but not one designed for the area’s frigid winter.
Asked if she had a plan, she said, “Just start driving until you can be homeless and not freeze to death, and then stop there and see where I can find a job.”
NFFE was one of several unions that have filed suit to halt what they called “the mass firings of hundreds of thousands of employees.”
Brad LaPlante, the NFFE steward on the Payette, said those laid off so far do important work.
“They're not trimming the fat,” he said. “They're trimming the low end of the Forest Service, the workers, the people who go out and clean the campgrounds and go and work on the trails.”
He added that Idahoans who love spending time on their public lands will feel the impacts, as will the service’s ability to respond to wildfires, even though the USDA said “operational firefighters” have been spared from the layoffs.
Many of his non-fire colleagues regularly respond to wildfires, and he personally went to the Durkee Fire that shut down Interstate 84 last summer.
“Not only are you working with fire crews, but a lot of us are in support positions,” he said.
Editor's Note: A previous audio version of this story incorrectly stated the day of Kelly Grenquist's firing. It happened on Thursday.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
