Payette National Forest fires dozens of staff on presidential order

Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two scheduled to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.

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McCALL — At least 42 employees at Payette National Forest employees were fired last week, potentially crippling conservation work, timber sales and the Forest’s ability to maintain trails, campgrounds and backcountry roads.

The mass firing, intended to reduce the number of federal employees, was mandated by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump and led by the Department of Government Efficiency.

As a result, about 3,400 Forest Service employees across the country were fired this past week with several thousand more terminated across other federal agencies.

About 200 people gathered in downtown McCall on Monday to protest the firings.

Protest organizers called the firings illegal and warned that more could follow.

“Employees were fired without cause, with the official reason listed as poor performance,” organizers said in a pamphlet distributed on Monday.

The pamphlet called the official reasons a falsification, a lie and “a direct violation of federal employment law.”

“Too long have the people in power divided us by political party,” said one of the protest organizers Sara Kososik as the event began.

“They want us to believe its Liberal versus Conservative, Red versus Blue, when in reality our fight is the people who work, and those who want to profit off our sweat in the name of gaining more power,” Kososik said.

The Payette and Boise National Forests did not confirm the number of employees fired, or the reasons why, but protesters said that 34 Payette employees were fired on Friday and eight on Sunday.

Questions sent to both forests were directed to the US Department of Agriculture Washington office, which replied with a generic response that did not address specifics.

“Secretary (Brooke) Rollins fully supports President Trump’s directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA’s ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers, loggers and the agriculture community,” the statement from the USDA said.

“As part of this effort, USDA has released individuals in their probationary period of employment,” the statement said.

Probationary employees are typically in their first year of employment in a permanent position. Many of those on probationary status have several years of experience because Forest Service employees often work seasonally or change positions within the agency.

The firings could leave the Payette unable to complete basic services.

“Trails will disappear,” said Caelan Parker, carrying a large crosscut saw and a sign that read “have work, no crew, save your services.”

“Especially with a heavy snow year, trees will fall, avalanches will happen, trails will get buried and they will disappear into the landscape,” said Parker, who is the trails foreman on the Krassel Ranger District.

Parker is now the only trails worker on the Krassel District, which has 1,200 miles of trail.

Adam Larson, president of the union that represents all non-supervisory employees on the Payette, said his entire recreation crew was fired. They were responsible for the maintenance of roads, campgrounds, toilets and trail work.

“I have no more crew aside for myself and the guy that runs the rec. program also has no crew, so he’ll have about 50 to 60 toilets to clean by himself next summer,” Larson said.

Bryce Spare, 41, of McCall, was the lead backcountry ranger and snow ranger for the Payette. He has worked for the Payette for five years until he was fired on Friday.

“I think there’s a misconception that employees that were in their probationary period are not experienced, and that’s really not the case,” Spare said. “There’s a lot of knowledge that’s been lost.”

Timber sales could also be halted because of the firings.

“We won’t have the personnel to go out and get the field work done,” said Danica Born Rupp, who works as a timber sale administrator on the New Meadows ranger district and saw two of her staff get fired.

“That is going to potentially slow down timber sales coming out from federal lands,” she said. “That is something that feeds mills in Emmett, Grangeville and Tamarack (south of New Meadows).”

This is going to be really devastating to small towns in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Born Rupp said.

“The Forest Service is the third largest job creator in Valley County, and that’s going to be pretty hard,” she said.

The news of losing their job was devastating for many.

Kelly Grenquist moved to McCall in May to work at her “dream job” studying endangered species as a wildlife technician on the McCall and Krassell Ranger Districts.

She was fired on Friday.

“I don’t really know what I’m going to do on short notice,” she said, adding that she lives in Forest Service housing and lost her housing as well.

“I guess I will maybe move into my three seasons camper and try to keep it warm enough…if I don’t have a place that I can live, I don’t know if I can stay in town,” Grenquist said.

Wildland firefighters were supposedly not subject to the mass-firing, but Grenquist emphasized that even wildlife biologists fill in on fire crews. She was called on to assist on two firefighting details last summer.

“We had a pretty big fire season last year, and they were really trying to find relief for their regular fire employees by the end of the season” she said.

Emily Kucharski, 29, carried a sign saying “I was fired illegally, ask me about it,” after being fired by phone on Sunday night.

Kucharski had worked at the Payette since 2022, but was still on probationary status because she was hired under a “Schedule-A disability letter.”

“It gave me a direct hire into the job, instead of having to go through the whole application process because I’d been there for three years already. They knew my abilities, they knew my skills,” Kucharski said.

Those skills—like bridge building, operating crosscut saws and chainsaws, avalanche forecasting and backcountry snowmobiling and public relations—will be difficult to replace, she said.

Firing someone with a long list of specialized skills is not an efficient move by a department named after efficiency, she said.

All federal employees that participated in this article emphasized that they were expressing their own private opinion and not as a representative of the Forest Service.

— Max Silverson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday

Colfax gets new police chief

COLFAX — Mike Melcher, 40, of Walla Walla County, has taken on the role of the City of Colfax police chief.

Melcher worked his last shift at the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 9, starting his new position as Colfax Police Chief at the end of last week.

The newly minted police chief and his family are looking to move back to the area, Melcher said, noting his wife is from the Endicott area.

“We don’t know where yet we are moving in the county,” he said. “We are going to let our kid finish school.”

Melcher said after that his wife and him plan to put their house on the market and then move down to Whitman County.

Previously working at the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, Melcher was a deputy before moving to the Walla Walla area where he worked for the sheriff’s office in Walla Walla County for approximately the last two and a half years.

“I heard Colfax was still looking for a new police chief late last year,” Melcher said. “I put an application in, and here I am.”

Melcher said he got into criminal justice when he decided to go on a few ride-alongs with the Yakima Police Department in high school.

“That’s where I’m originally from, and it seemed interesting, seemed exciting,” Melcher said, adding from there he went to Washington State University to take criminal justice classes.

Serving approximately 15 years as a police officer, Melcher said he worked in corrections for about three and a half years before that.

Melcher said his wife and him are excited to get back to Whitman County and to be near extended family.

“I worked for the county for 10 years, so we’re familiar with the community,” Melcher said, noting they have personal and professional connections.

“It’s always been a very supportive community, at least in my eyes,” he said. “I don’t have any reason to think that’s changed so far.”

Melcher said his plan going forward is to get his feet underneath him and get comfortable with the role.

“The police department has been down one officer for a while, so we’re trying to build things up slow and steady,” he said, adding he is looking forward to working with everyone in the community.

“I am looking forward to working with Officer Tate, he’s been here forever,” Melcher said. “He’s a great resource, a lot of his institutional knowledge.”

Melcher said the department just wants to do good by the people of Colfax.

“We want lines of communication open if people have a question, I want them to call,” he said, noting if anyone has concerns his door is always open when he is there.

“I’m just looking forward to working with everybody,” he said. “Trying to be a good resource for the community.”

— Teresa Simpson, Whitman County Gazette (Colfax), Thursday