NFFE Welcomes New Forest Service Chief

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cory Bythrow, Communications Director
Phone: (202) 255-9950

Washington, D.C. – Last Friday, Richard N. Brown, National President of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), a union representing 100,000 federal employees nationwide, including nearly 30,000 permanent and seasonal U.S. Forest Service employees, sent a letter to recently-appointed Forest Service Chief Thomas Tidwell, extending a hand of cooperation to address the many pressing issues facing the agency.

Thomas Tidwell, a 32 year veteran of the Forest Service, has worked in 8 different national forests spanning across three regions.  Most recently, he was the Regional Forester in Region 1, the agency’s Northern Region. The region has a proven track record of collaborative labor-management relations that has led to increased employee morale and agency effectiveness. 

“Given your extensive career with the agency, I am confident that in the coming years you will make a sincere effort to resolve the many challenges that confront our nation’s forests,” said Brown in his letter to the Chief.

As the largest representative of U.S. Forest Service employees, NFFE stands to work side by side with Chief Tidwell on the issues that matter to our members in the field.  

“Let me assure you that our union will be a strong partner in advancing the mission of the U.S. Forest Service and improving the livelihoods of the dedicated federal employees without whom it would not exist,” Brown said. 

NFFE Forest Service Council President Ron Thatcher, in his March 19, 2009 testimony before the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, & Public Lands, noted that one major challenge is how to ease the administrative burden that has been placed on field-going personnel by over-centralization of human resources and other support functions.  “To effectively manage the land, the agency needs to get more boots out from under desks and back on the ground where they belong,” Thatcher observed.