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.
Tag: Public lands
Presidential Dishonesty Surrounding SoCal Fires
The recent fires burning suburban areas of Los Angeles have raised political tensions during widespread property damage and human suffering. Trump used the fire disasters as a wedge issue and …
Trump’s Revealing Renaming of Mt. Denali
Trump ordered the government to rename Mt. Denali in Alaska, angering locals and republicans in Alaska.
Government Efficiency? Really?
Are the cuts significant for cutting the deficit or are they ideological attacks on functions he and Trump don’t value?
Off to a Weak Start
For the first time in American history, Americans elected a convicted felon to the White House.
The Falling Rio Grande
Climate change is fast reducing the flow of the Rio Grande. State and federal regulations do not keep up with alarming changes in the river.
Chaco Canyon and the Halls of Time
The Chaco great houses are huge, complex buildings with exquisite masonry. The more we learn about them, the less we seem to know about the people who built them.
Firefighter Shortage Threatens the West
According to the Forest Service, 45% of their permanent firefighting workforce has quit in the last three years.
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 …
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.
