Forest Service Council Takes Concerns to Congress; Comp. Sourcing and FS Budget are Primary Issues

Last week the NFFE, FD 1, Forest Service Council sent a trio of Council representatives to Washington, DC for a week of lobbying and meeting with top agency officials.  With the aim of getting off on the right foot for the FY07 appropriations process, Council President Bill Dougan, Council Legislative Chairman Ron Thatcher, and former Council Legislative Chairman Art Johnston attended numerous meetings with OMB and Congressional committee staff members, addressing issues such as competitive sourcing, forest health, facilities maintenance, and the overall Forest Service budget.

With competitive sourcing occupying the most attention, the Forest Service Council has set their sights on legislation that would more strictly enforce the $3 million cap the Forest Service currently has for the agency's annual competitive sourcing budget.  Although the agency claims to have kept competitive sourcing expenses under the cap, they were only able to do so because of loopholes in the accounting of expenses that ignore many of the real costs of conducting privatization studies.  Actual expenses for the Forest Service competitive sourcing program during the previous fiscal year were well above the allowable $3 million.

Another issue that the Forest Service Council emphasized in meetings with Congressional staff was the agency's backlog of forest health and maintenance projects that have been building over the last several years.  Because of budget constraints, a new agency organizational model, and the diversion of funds intended for competitive sourcing studies, numerous projects have been sitting on the back-burner.  As a result, hundreds of miles of trail have not been cleared and maintained, garbage cans at campgrounds are overflowing, and our national forests are not being cleared of fallen trees and other fuel that allow wildfires to rage out of control. Typically, an investment of less than $5 million to properly manage land will prevent a wildfire that can cost upwards of $50 million to extinguish.  The Council hopes to find ways for appropriated dollars to reach the ground where this essential work is being performed.

Last week's meetings on Capitol Hill were just the latest actions taken in an ongoing effort by the Council to stay on top of legislation that affects workers at the US Forest Service.  Members of the Forest Service Council make the trip to Washington, DC about once a month to conduct lobbying visits.  The Council has also sent about 30 people each year to the annual IAM Legislative Conference.

"Lobbying on issues that are important to our members of the Forest Service Council and to all federal employees is some of the most important work we can do as Union officials,” stated Dougan.  “We are fortunate in our Council that we have a very active and knowledgeable Legislative Committee and Executive Board who see the value in working with Congress on issues like retirement, health care, and numerous other issues that affect our work and quality of life."