Rosalee Reese stood before the Rio Grande County Commissioners on Wednesday morning and told her story. She’s just been let go from her job with the Rio Grande National Forest as part of the mass firings happening across the federal government and now impacting towns like Monte Vista where Reese, her husband, and soon-to-be child live.
She worked as the Rio Grande National Forest’s fisheries biologist for the past two years, managing fisheries and wildlife habitat, helping restore watershed health, and working on wildfire resiliency projects. Last summer her work, along with colleague Connor Born, of relocating beavers from the Valley floor to the national forest was featured in this Alamosa Citizen article.
“This was a dream job for me, something I’ve worked my entire career for,” she told the three county commissioners and a roomful of community members attending the regularly-held mid-week meeting.
“I’ve moved around the country countless times to take seasonal and temporary jobs to build my résumé to be competitive in the federal service, not only because I passionately care about our natural resources and protecting them for future generations, but also because this system promises security and a long-term career for those people that commit to it.”
She knew there was little the commissioners could do to help her situation, but her message was one of awareness for communities and local elected boards about the consequences of a federal government strategy that doesn’t lend itself to review, but happens on a whim.
“I have five years of successful service as a civil servant with nothing but positive performance evaluations,” Reese said, “and I was still cut as a probationary-status employee even though I have that prior service.”
A USDA spokesman in an email to Alamosa Citizen said 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees nationwide were released from the U.S. Forest Service; a breakdown by region was not available.
Individuals who work for the federal government in the Valley believe the Rio Grande National Forest Service has seen anywhere from 17 to 20 staff reductions, depending on if you’re counting those who accepted the U.S. Office of Personnel Management Fork in the Road buyout offer or who were subsequently fired after taking the wrong fork in the road.
A spokesman for the U.S. National Parks Service confirmed 1,000 layoffs in that agency, although indicated an expectation for some seasonal hires and couldn’t comment on impacts to operations at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.
FEDERAL AGENCY LAYOFFS
We’ll continue to follow the federal hiring freeze as it affects the San Luis Valley. If you’re in the know on these matters, get in touch with Alamosa Citizen. We’re working to document the federal firings at the local level and the impacts a reduced federal workforce in the San Luis Valley have on local communities and local lives.
The Valley has 3.1 million acres of public lands, with the U.S. Forest Service as the largest landowner and the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve as its greatest tourist draw at more than 500,000 visitors a year.
“Our public land, state and federal, are incredibly important to our community, both for tourism and for those of us that live here,” said Laura Conchelos, who also spoke before the county commissioners about the impacts of the federal layoffs.
“I think about the number of folks who come to the sand dunes, our national forest, our BLM and our refuges to hike, bike, motorcycle, UTV, fish, snowmobile, et cetera. Every year, most of the public land agencies already operate on less than adequate budgets. Now imagine how randomly cutting personnel will affect the management of these lands,” she said.
Reese said she and her husband moved to the San Luis Valley five years ago after he accepted a position with U.S. Fish and Wildlife. He now works for the state, and last year the couple purchased a home in Monte Vista, where they planned to make a life.
“This year, 36 years of age, I finally thought we were in a secure enough position that we could have a family and my baby is due in two months and I just lost my insurance, my maternity leave, my income, all of my benefits,” she said in her public comments before the county commissioners. “We did not take it lightly to start a family. We had a very thought-out, careful plan, making sure we had two good jobs, making sure we had a safe home to provide for our son.”
For now the dream is gone, ripped apart by a wrecking ball demolishing the federal bureaucracy and the lives of civil servants who were doing it for the love of the job and the public good.
“This firing was based on none of what I’ve contributed to over the last two years, and I would just like to raise awareness that this is going to have an impact not only on our community,” Reese said, “but communities around the nation and how important the natural resources are here to the livelihood and well-being of this community.”
In her final appeal to the county commissioners she said, “And please, I ask you to speak out against these mass firings. Thank you.”
Editor’s note: This story has been edited to correct previously reported information on the wildlife refuge.
