For over a decade, the U.S. Forest Service has faced retention and recruitment issues that have resulted in a depleted workforce while fire seasons worsen and the Biden administration is increasing pressure to reduce wildfire risks across the West.
Federal wildland firefighters have entered another fire summer of broken records. The two largest wildfires in New Mexico's history, the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire in the Santa Fe National Forest and the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest, are currently under way, prompting a visit on Saturday by President Biden. Fire seasons, warns the Agriculture Department, are becoming longer and harder to control leading to intense "fire years."
