The federal workforce costs taxpayers $350 billion per year. That’s about 5% of the $6.5 trillion budget. The US Department of Interior employs about 63,000 people nationwide. The bulk of the federal budget goes to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Department of Defense.
Category: public agencies
Valles Caldera, and Other Parks Face Peril Under Trump/Musk
The November 5 election was a disaster for public lands and conservation. Clearly the American voters were focused on widespread economic insecurity and voted their pocketbooks. Other issues like climate …
Into the Sewer with Trump
Donald Trump is an angry man. He doesn’t laugh and he doesn’t smile. Why? He came from wealth and despite bankruptcies, he has maintained wealth and lives in a …
Firefighter Shortage Threatens the West
According to the Forest Service, 45% of their permanent firefighting workforce has quit in the last three years.
John Wesley Powell Wanted to Denude the Rocky Mountains
In line with his singular focus on water for farms and towns, Powell opposed the creation of the forest reserves, the precursors to the national forests. He worried that a Forest Service would compete for money with his US Geologic Survey and didn’t want the Forest Reserve designation to prevent dams from being built to feed farms water.
Killing Eagles in the Jemez Mountains
In an unusual chain of events, the Pueblo of Jemez, a Native American community in Sandoval County, New Mexico, was granted a permit to kill one eagle on the Valles …
Federal Firefighting Agencies Face Serious Challenges
We have a National Strategy for updating our response to ever-hotter wildfires. With years of learning, careful consultation, and consideration, the Cohesive Wildfire Strategy offers a chance to respond to …
Time for More Prescribed Fire
Despite recent prescribed fire escapes, we need to ramp up prescribed burning in northern New Mexico and treat many more acres before another dry windy spring causes problems.
Biden Focuses on Western Fire Issues
The United States has a vast area of public forest that needs to burn. Wildfires chip away at these hundreds of millions of acres of decadent forest every year. …
Public Radio Still Beaming After So Many Years
Standing in my skis on top of Pajarito Mountain the other day I pointed to a radio tower perched nearby and told my friend that it belongs to the …
