Forest Service tells Greenlee supervisors recent terminations, travel-management rollout could affect fire support and access

Vince Volker, district ranger for the Clifton Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service, told the Greenlee County Board of Supervisors that several recent employee terminations — some later found unlawful and under partial rehiring — have left the district “in flux” and could affect fire support, range monitoring and recreation maintenance across Greenlee County.

The staffing changes and an ongoing travel-management rule were the focus of a roughly hour-long presentation and Q&A at the county meeting. Volker said a plan from the U.S. secretary of agriculture addressing reductions in force should be available to employees in mid‑April; until then, some rehires may face lawful retermination under a reduction‑in‑force process. “There’s a lot of change in the Forest Service,” Volker said.

Why it matters: Supervisors and county staff pressed the Forest Service on how the staffing disruption could affect initial fire response and everyday services. County officials said they want regular updates and offered to coordinate county road and public-safety resources to support the Forest Service during fire season.

Volker named three categories of recently affected positions: a seasonal wildlife biologist who cleared areas prior to fuels treatments; a permanent range technician who completed substantial allotment monitoring work; and a recreation employee who cleaned and maintained campgrounds. Volker said the recreation employee elected to return and should be back in April; the range employee declined to return because rehiring conditions would require paying to re-enroll in coursework and breaking a lease. Volker described the district as small — “less than 20 people if you include fire plus our other staff” — and said losing three or four employees is a large portion of that workforce.

Joe Naims, Clifton district fire manager, described the district’s fire‑side staffing and fire-prevention projects. Naims said he has hired additional personnel for the fire program and expects to field nearly a full hand crew with a mix of seasonal and local hires. He highlighted hazardous‑fuels treatments along the State Route 191 corridor and named East Iwamud Springs, Mesa and Sunset as active or planned projects that create defensible space and reduce the risk of high‑severity fire.

Naims said the fuels work has measurable benefits: areas treated with prescribed fire show reduced dead-and-down fuels and increased grass production the following season. He added that some work in the southern district focuses on juniper removal and watershed restoration, and that projects are tied to wildlife habitat goals.

Travel management and access: Volker summarized the Forest Service’s travel‑management decision and the agency’s sequence of work: a signed decision exists but it is not yet implemented while spatial and tabular data are corrected and public concerns — especially about private‑property access — are incorporated. He repeated the implementation goal in plain terms: the district will be “closed unless marked open” under the new rule, a change from the past practice of being open unless closed. That change, Volker said, is intended to keep signs intact and to define legal motorized access, but it depends on additional heritage surveys before the agency can designate game retrieval or camping corridors.

Volker said heritage surveys are costly and that corridors for game retrieval and camping will not appear in the first published map; they will be added after survey work is complete.

Fire‑season outlook: Volker and Naims both pointed to drought data and regional fire‑danger forecasts showing much of Arizona in extreme drought. The Forest Service is in stage‑1 fire restrictions and expects to monitor conditions through spring; Naims said stage‑2 restrictions and potential closures would follow if conditions deteriorate. Naims noted that most historical ignitions on the district have been lightning caused and said the agency uses ignition-history data to prioritize projects.

County response and cooperation: County Administrator Derek Rapier and several supervisors emphasized the importance of multiagency coordination. Supervisor Campbell asked that the Forest Service provide regular updates and invited the agency to cooperators’ meetings; Volker said a cooperators’ meeting in Alpine was scheduled and that he had invited county emergency-management and sheriff’s representatives.

The Forest Service asked the county to share capability and contact information for operational support such as road closures, traffic control and logistics for feeding and supplying small initial-attack crews. Volker said some terminated employees performed support roles during prescribed burns — such as road guards, logistics and community outreach — and losing those staffers reduces the district’s ability to carry out both fuels projects and wildfire response.

Ending: County leaders asked the Forest Service to continue returning to the board with updates on staffing, travel‑management implementation and fire restrictions. Volker said he will provide weekly or periodic outlooks during the active fire season and invited supervisors to the cooperating agencies’ meetings.