ON BEHALF OF myself and not the federal agency I currently work for, I’d like to share a few thoughts.
This last month has been extremely stressful for federal workers, as well as the entire country. I have worked for the USDA Forest Service for more than 30 years. I’ve managed through three government shutdowns, drastic reductions in staff and money, and rapidly changing conditions on the landscape that are cause for enormous concern. (Megafires are the most obvious of these, but tree mortality, species declines, drought and disease are all taking serious tolls on the abilities of fish, wildlife and plant species to adapt).
My work, which involves collaborating with dozens of managers, researchers and volunteers from other federal agencies, state agencies and non-profits, focuses on surveying for listed wildlife species and other animals of conservation concern. We also restore habitats, including second-growth forests, degraded wetlands and prairies, and streams blocked by culverts and roads.
The work is physically challenging and very gratifying. It’s all premised on seeking to understand the ecological community, then striving to conserve that community.
As biologists, ecologists, botanists and others working in conservation, we know that interconnection and interdependence are what make life possible. Every creature native to an ecosystem has a role. If even just one goes missing, then the entire system is at risk. And species are vanishing at rapid rates all around the world.
I have always known how lucky I’ve been to have spent my life in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve gotten a much closer look than many at this amazingly diverse and productive world, and along the way, I’ve tried to share what I know with others.
I take my job as a public servant very seriously, as I know my colleagues do.
I have signed the Oath of Office six times as I’ve changed jobs, swearing to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I have entered.
Public service is an honor. It is a privilege to share my enthusiasm and what I have learned with people who may just be starting to know our forests and its full-time residents.
It is a wonderful part of my day to be in the forest and meet people. Almost without exception, they thank me heartily for stopping to talk with them. But they don’t need to thank me as I am the one who has benefited.
We in the Forest Service do great, important work. We strive to understand the science behind forest function and then implement actions to benefit forests, people and species. We need more people, not fewer, and we need more funds, not less.
We do not need harassment and bullying from the top, which has comprised much of the last few weeks.
Dozens of people across Washington who love and care for the land in national forests on behalf of the public and future generations have been fired. Losing their incomes and work they love is devastating for them, and it is also devastating for the ecosystems.
The kind of disrespect shown by the administration for federal employees hurts everyone because the health of the planet is literally at a tipping point.
We need each other, we need the forests and the people who work in them, and we need to do all we can on behalf of the ecological and social communities where we live.
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Betsy Howell works for the Olympic National Forest. She lives in Port Townsend.
