Sowing Uncertainty from DC Beltway to Yellowstone Gateways

Lost in the maelstrom of federal firings and funding freezes is the trickle-down effect these policies will have on conservation and stewardship in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. As devastating—and confusing—as the mass layoffs have already been, their broader implications will likely reverberate in the months and years to come. Some fear they could unravel any recent progress while threatening ecosystem integrity, community health and economic vitality. In the northeast corner of the GYE, Park County is already feeling the disruption.

Livingston-based Montana Freshwater Partners in January had a nearly $300,000 Bureau of Reclamation grant frozen. The funds were earmarked for a large collaboration between local NGOs, technical experts and federal agencies, including the Forest Service. “Growing up here and working in water resources, it’s really hard to see things starting to crumble in a way that we’ve never really seen before,” Wendy Weaver, executive director of Freshwater Partners said in a phone interview with Mountain Journal. “Our Park County Water Initiative was starting to gain incredible momentum, and a lot of our partners are Forest Service and federal agencies, so seeing what’s happening on that level is pretty disheartening.”

According to Weaver, these projects are critical for building community resilience and mitigating the negative impacts of drought, flooding and wildfire, and while Freshwater Partners has since regained access to these grant funds, the uncertainty is still disruptive. “The [funding] uncertainty jeopardizes the momentum,” Weaver said. “This work is really slow, and this will make it slower.”

The disruption comes at a tenuous time for Park County, which in 2022 experienced devastating floods that washed out bridges, threatened operations at Livingston HealthCare and closed Yellowstone National Park’s North Entrance. Economic losses have been pegged at $156 million, and the odds of a similar disaster repeating itself are increasing due to climate change. To help mitigate the risks associated with such events, Freshwater Partners was prepping a large EPA grant application to fund a flood study. Now, that submission is on hold.

“This isn’t a ‘woke agenda,’” Weaver said. “Nonprofits like ours plug in the gaps and fill in where government can’t. Right now, all of that is kind of up in the air.”

Across the Gallatin Range from Paradise Valley, along the banks of the Gallatin River, layoffs and funding confusion are also taking their toll.

“Forest Service staffing cuts and funding uncertainty delays our ability to advance restoration project work,” chief operating officer for the Gallatin River Task Force Emily O’Connor explained in an email. “This is concerning considering the growing recreation pressure and impacts we are seeing along the Gallatin River.”

In January, the Task Force was notified that a $200,000 grant application was being considered by the Bureau of Reclamation. In February, they were informed that financial assistance agreements not yet in place would be sent to the Department of Interior for leadership review. On March 6, the bureau encouraged O’Connor to reinitiate the grant agreement process.

“This funding would advance planning and design for restoration projects, which collectively would protect and restore upwards of 124 acres of ecologically critical land adjacent to the Gallatin River,” O’Connor said. Much of the upper Gallatin runs through the Custer Gallatin National Forest, and Forest Service staff were key partners on permitting and implementation. While the funding process has resumed, the staffing cuts are still a concern, according to O’Connor.

In the far southeast corner of the GYE, Friends of the Bridger-Teton National Forest Executive Director Scott Kosiba is bracing for another busy summer, this time without the reliable Forest Service trail crews his organization partners with.

“Friends of Bridger-Teton was set up to address the ongoing challenges the Forest Service had at the time during Covid,” Kosiba said. “There was a crush of people coming to the GYE and what we’re seeing now harkens back to that, although the impacts feel more dire.”

Kosiba’s organization relies on volunteers to steward recreation resources across the 3.4-million-acre forest, which stretches across five counties, three Wilderness Areas and 2,500 miles of trail. The nonprofit pumps toilets at trailheads, douses abandoned campfires and rehabs recreation assets from Jackson to Pinedale, but they can’t do the work with their federal friends.

“The key to our success depends on our Forest Service partners,” Kosiba said. “So when the people in those positions no longer exist, it makes it exceedingly difficult for us to do the work that we do.”

As of March 6, FBT had up to $300,000 in executed agreements that they cannot touch. This time of year, the stewardship organization gears up for summer, but without knowing whether they’ll be reimbursed, Kosiba is taking a more cautious approach. “Those funds are critical to what we’re able to do,” he said. “These are true government roles, and if they cease to exist there’s no way the private sector or nonprofits can step in to do this work.”

Matt Bowser, Wild Montana stewardship and education director, agrees. “These professional crews spend over half the year just getting trails opened up,” he said, “and the crews were already short enough before this happened. It was everything they could do to keep the trails open and accessible from the trees that blow down every year.”

Bowser, former Forest Service trail crewmember himself, also receives federal grant dollars that fund Wild Montana’s stewardship along sections of the Continental Divide Trail. As of March 12, those funds were still in review. With developments changing day by day, Bowser cautioned against firm determinations regarding the money.

“At this point—and it could change tomorrow—we’re still planning on offering our full suite of projects,” he said, while reiterating that volunteers will not be able to fill the gap left by the lack of professional trail crews. “It’s great that we’ll be able to chip away at the existing deferred maintenance on trails, but nothing compares to the work that our professional crews do for the Forest Service and Park Service.”

Back in Park County, that work does not go unnoticed by long-time small business owner Dale Sexton, proprietor of Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company. “The health of my business relies heavily on the health of public lands,” Sexton told Mountain Journal. “So this is definitely concerning from a business perspective.”

Given recent trends, that perspective is worth considering. According to a University of Montana study, Park County saw almost $263 million worth of business from nonresident visitors in 2023, and 34 percent of visitors noted day hiking as a primary reason for coming. “Without access to our public lands, we’re just another state,” Sexton said. “And while Yellowstone is the main draw, I direct hundreds of people a day to Forest Service trails.” These are the same trails previously cleared by Forest and Park Service trail crews, and by volunteers paid via federal grants to regional nonprofits.

To advocate on behalf of the businesses that depend on accessible public lands, Sexton and partners have relaunched the Yellowstone Gateway Business Coalition, an advocacy group that mobilized ten years ago in response to industrial gold-mining threats in Paradise Valley. “Without our public lands, Montana is sunk,” Sexton said.

Freshwater Partners’ Weaver shares Sexton’s worry. “For the first time I am terrified about what this means for conservation, for wildlife management, for our public lands,” she said. “I think the threat is very, very real.”

While advocacy from the obvious stakeholders is one thing, Friends of Bridger-Teton’s Kosiba knows it won’t be enough. “The responsibility of challenging [these policies] needs to come from the public, and I’m hoping we see more of that,” he said. “It’s one thing for an org called Friends of Bridger-Teton to say something, but its more impactful for folks to use their own platforms to speak up for what they believe in.”

In a few short months, communities across the Greater Yellowstone have been racked by the whipsawing policies being implemented in Washington. On March 6, the Merit System Protection Board directed USDA to reinstate many of the fired seasonal Forest Service employees, at least temporarily, adding to the confusion and sowing further uncertainty. Many nonprofits have had funds unfrozen, but clarity remains elusive and no one knows if, or when, the next shoe will drop.

For now, the work moves forward as best it can. “The biggest thing giving us hope is our Forest Service partners themselves,” Kosiba said. “They’re starting to move beyond shock and despair to ‘OK, now what are we gonna do?’ And I think that really speaks to the commitment that these people have made to the work that they do.”

Without that work, management and stewardship of the lands, waters and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone remain in limbo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Emily O'Connor is the spouse of Mountain Journal Managing Editor Joseph T. O'Connor. She is COO of Gallatin River Task Force and is the lead GRTF staff member coordinating with the Forest Service.

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