A screenshot from the National Avalanche Center with Western U.S. avalanche forecast zones highlighted.
On September 16, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore held an all-employee video call to discuss budgeting and hiring. He announced a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) seasonal employee hiring freeze for 2025 that could impact USFS avalanche forecast centers.
The news of the seasonal worker hiring freeze has reverberated in several mountain communities where the USFS produces avalanche forecasts and bulletins. Many USFS avalanche centers rely on seasonal forecasters to do this important work. Officially, the seasonal employees affected are temporary 1039 hires. These hires are limited to a maximum number of weeks and total hours they can work for the agency.
The hiring freeze impacts all seasonal 1039 hires for the new U.S. fiscal year, which began October 1, except wildland fire seasonal hires. For those backcountry enthusiasts who are not focused on the federal budget, Congress passed a temporary spending bill funding the government at current levels until December 20. An official 2025 budget has not been passed.
A story in the Jackson Hole News & Guide on September 25 states the Bridger Teton Avalanche Center employs four permanent seasonal forecasters, who can be rehired under the freeze; the two forecasters they employ as seasonal 1039 forecasters remain in limbo.
The National Avalanche Center lists 14 USFS Avalanche Centers on their website. These centers service an area spanning from New Hampshire to Alaska. (The Colorado Avalanche Information Center is a state agency that works closely with the Forest Service.)
The High Route shameless plug: If a USFS avalanche center serves your backcountry zone, now is the time to contact your representatives and the non-profit fundraising arm of your respective center.
