Forest Service lifts hiring pause on non-fire workforce, but plans to only fill ‘highest priority’ vacancies

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) said firefighter pay increase from the infrastructure law has been an important hiring and retention tool for the Forest Service, but warned the agency still faces vacancies in fire-related positions and general staffing gaps in non-fire positions.

“Such gaps directly tie to project delays and management challenges across the agency that my Republican counterparts often attribute to the legal burdens of environmental review,” Kamlager-Dove said at a hearing earlier this month held by the House Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on federal lands.