Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) at a Meeting on Maine Vet Homelessness at Hanaford Hall, USM, Portland, Last Year.

Signs at an Ad Hoc Anti-Trump Protest at Monument Square This Morning in Which Several Hundred People Participated.  Please visit Post Herein Dated February 12, 2025  for More on the “Complicit Collins.”

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior and Evironment Subcommitee, says the Trump administration reported firing of 3,400 US Forest Service(FS) employees will severely hinder the agency’s ability to fight wildfires.

In a letter dated February 14, 2025 to newly confirmed Agriculure Secretary Brooke Rollins, Pingree underscores that these firings come as the Forest Service was making record progress in fighting wildfires – reducing wildfire risk to $700 bilion worth  of housing and critical infrastructure, supporting a nearly 12% reduction in wildfire risk to watersheds that supply drinking water and avoiding nearly $40 million in residential property losses in fiscal year 2023 alone.

“The decision to fire thousands of FS employees will undoubtedly impact the agency’s ability to fight wildfires,” Pingree wrote in her letter to the Secretary.  “While reports suggest that public saety employees were not part of the mass firing, positions that support forest management were included.  You have expressed a commitment to forest management, wildfire mitigation and supporting forest markets.  However, firing 3,400 FS employees is in direct conflict with these supposed values.  Terminating these employees will have a chilling effect on the agency’s remaining workforce, creating an envionment of fear and undermining the agency’s ability to meet its missison,” Pingree said.