By Billy Arnold
Jackson Hole News&Guide
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

JACKSON (WNE) — The U.S. Forest Service has granted the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center an exemption from its freeze on seasonal hiring, meaning the center will be able to operate normally this winter.

“We’re fully staffed,” Avalanche Center Director Frank Carus said Monday.

But with exemptions made for a key, but small group of seasonal Forest Service hires — the avalanche forecasters who publish safety bulletins every morning for an area that spans four mountain ranges and 7,100 miles — plenty of other seasonal employees are still subject to the freeze. 

This winter, Jay Pistono, a seasonal worker who has spent 20 years as the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s only paid Teton Pass ambassador, still can’t be hired, according to nonprofit leaders who work with the national forest. 

During next summer’s crush of tourism, those same officials say, the staff that pumps toilets, maintains trails and patrols the wilderness and rivers that snake through western Wyoming remains on the chopping block.

“We’re really happy that they made these exceptions, but the seasonal hiring freeze is an issue for everybody,” said Dwayne Meadows, executive director of the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center Foundation.

One of the outstanding questions facing land managers and the people who work with them is whether the Forest Service will now allow outside groups to fund seasonal positions. It’s also unclear whether the crisis will dissipate in the coming weeks when the U.S. Congress revisits budget negotiations.

In July, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted 210-205 to pass a budget that slashes Forest Service funding for the current fiscal year, which started in October. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., voted for the bill. The Senate placed the bill on its calendar, but has not answered the House. In response to the House’s actions, Washington, D.C., officials announced the seasonal hiring freeze to plan for the worst-case funding scenario. Onlookers hope the Senate will be more generous.

“I’m hopeful that the Senate version will prevail and the Forest Service might be in a position to reconsider seasonal hires,” said Randy Rasmussen, director for public lands and recreation at Back Country Horsemen of America, a group that watchdogs land management and promotes recreation. 

But he acknowledged that reconsideration could come too late. With snowfall in Wyoming and the West, avalanche centers were already left in a bind when the Forest Service announced the freeze.

The Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center, would have been prevented from hiring two “temporary seasonal” workers. Its other four employees, “permanent seasonals,” could have been hired. But they would have been barred from extending their tours into the summer both to be paid for overtime and to complete work like planning for the next winter and maintaining weather stations even though the Avalanche Center Foundation typically pays for the summer work.

On Monday, Carus said the Avalanche Center’s exemption will allow it to hire all six employees, and to extend their tours into the summer as long as there’s outside funding to pay for their toil. The question now is whether that grace will be applied to other Forest Service programs with outside financial support.

Rasmussen is lobbying for exemptions for individual forests to hire seasonal employees whose jobs are funded by philanthropy.

But the devil is in the details.

“Sure we might have some trail crews funded by outside forces,” he said. “But what if the crew boss for the Forest Service is a seasonal hire? Will nonprofits be well trained enough?”

Scott Kosiba, executive director of Friends of the Bridger-Teton, has heard that any money given directly to the Forest Service will be prioritized for paying full-time staff. Instead, he’s asking whether the group can hire seasonal employees who will be supervised by the Bridger-Teton. The group already uses that model with two workers on the Greys River Ranger District.

“My position and my board’s position is it’s not our job to do Congress’ job,” he said. “We’re not really exploring options where we would be putting money into the agency to address these shortfalls.”