U.S. Forest Service Chief Randy Moore has announced to staff he is retiring next week. His departure follows layoffs and resignations amounting to nearly 10% of the staff which has left him, "feeling uncertainty."
The text of his emailed announcement has been posted by several organizations, including the Smokey Wire.
"If you are feeling uncertainty, frustration, or loss, you are not alone," Chief Moore told Forest Service employees. "These are real and valid emotions that I am feeling, too. Please take care of yourselves and each other."
Moore explained the staffing cuts impacting the Forest Service, "are being made at a level above our organization, and I was and am learning about the changes the same time as many of you."
He told department employees to be open in suggesting how the Forest Service can best serve the country. Moore's announced retirement date is March 3.
The National Parks Conservation Association has responded to Forest Service layoffs and resignations with a tone of alarm.
Kristen Brengel, the association senior vice president of government affairs, said the Forest Service is facing a "crisis".
"In a matter of weeks, 9% of Park Service staff have been lost to mass firings and resignations," she said. "And this is on top of hundreds of vacant positions that can't be filled due to the ongoing hiring freeze. These indiscriminate cuts are neither strategic nor efficient; they are devastating."
Brengel is calling on the Trump administration to pull back its spending cuts.
"Enough is enough," she said. "The administration must halt this reckless downsizing before it guts our national parks beyond repair."