Guest Letter: What We Lose When We Lose Trail Crews

Make no mistake—gutting trail crews across the country means we are actively losing our access to hunt, fish, guide or recreate on federal public lands.

Before we get into our guest letter from former Forest Service mule packer and trail worker Adin Kloetzel, I just wanted to extend a huge thank you to those who have followed/supported/shared my Substack over the last few days. There’s nearly 400 of you who are new here, including a handful of new paid subscribers. I appreciate you all so much!

In other news, today’s guest post was shared with me yesterday and I wanted to amplify as best as I could. This was written by a former mule packer and trail crew member (forestry tech) on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Philipsburg, Montana. As someone who has received resupplies of food, batteries and toilet paper from Forest Service mule packers while on remote wildfire assignments—and as someone who loves not having to climb over downed trees while hiking my favorite trails—I just wanted to amplify Adin’s voice and the work he’s done as a Forest Service employee over the years. While Adin wrote it with the intent to share it with his congressional representatives, I think all of us can learn something from it, and hopefully will feel emboldened to take our own actions (calling your senators/reps, writing a letter to the editor to your local newspaper, checking in our the Forest Service and NPS employees in your life etc).

Anyways, thanks for reading, and thanks to Adin for sharing this. If you’re reading this, were recently fired, and have a letter you’d like to share, please shoot me a message!

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This last Friday, Valentine’s Day, I was terminated from my position as a Packer/Trails Forestry Technician on the Pintler Ranger District under the erroneous premise that I had “performed poorly” during my probationary employment period.

For the last 5 years, I have dedicated myself to my job, and to the national forest I helped manage. The hard work myself and my peers accomplished provided access for the public. Some examples of the work are:

• Assigned to 12 fires over the course of my service as a primary/contingency fireline (Feller 3), Initial Attack Team crewmember, and RX fire crew

• Cleared and maintained over 600 miles of trail yearly.

• Packed mules and horses over a total of 15,000 miles for the purpose

  of hauling lumber, steel, concrete, hardware, bridge gabiens, shingles, explosives, tree seedlings, countless tools, trail crew camps, hay, cabin resupplies and much, much more

• Managed our ranger station’s herd of horses and mules

• Participated in instructing yearly separate S212 chainsaw trainings for

  BDNF seasonals and instructed 2 days of chainsaw training for all MCC crew leaders yearly

• 1800 hazardous snags cut in BDNF campgrounds

• 2400 trees cut out of non-wilderness trails

• 1150 trees cut out of wilderness trails in the Anaconda Pintler

  Wilderness.

• Over 450 hours of mini-excavator operation building hiking, biking and

  Nordic ski trails

• Packed in Montana Wild volunteers in Anaconda-Pintler wilderness for trail

  maintenance twice yearly

• Continental Divide Trail section cleared and maintained multiple times

  per season

• Constructed 12 bridges, both from native material and kits for

  motorized and non-motorized trails; puncheon construction in the

  BDNF

• Twin Lakes RAC project completed from the Storm lake side-reroute

  steep sections of trail by hand; built switchback retaining walls

• Foster Creek mountain bike trail connection to Lost Creek State Park

  completed for Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA)

• Foster Creek to Warm springs mountain bike connection for GAOA deferred maintenance completed—basically locating and retreading abandoned trail by hand

• Trail crew assisted Rocky Mountain District in Choteau with GAOA wilderness clearing annually in May

• Yearly assistance to Gila NF for clearing burned wilderness trails for 2 weeks per season

• Excavation and installation of new vault toilet at Midway Nordic ski trail warming hut

• Supervised 2 contract falling crews and USFS Falling Module on the Trail Creek Fire; hazard snag removal on dozer line. Crosscut saw operation for wilderness trail clearing and felling (Feller 3)

• Years of experience towing and using horse trailers, dump trailers, flatbed trailers, and box trailers of various sizes and hitch configurations

• Years of experience operating ATVs, Motorcycles, snowmobiles and UTVs for use in wildland fire, trail construction and hauling supplies on tough, tight and technical trails

• Years of explosives blasting experience on multiple assignments; hazard tree blasting, blasting for trail construction and maintenance on motorized and non-motorized trails

• Gas and air powered rock drill operation experience for blasting using 2’-6’ drill steel

• Participated in OHV Trails construction detail on the American River RD, Tahoe National Forest in Foresthill, CA for 2 weeks in 2021

• Placed and drilled 130+ 2.5’-6’ holes in bedrock for use in blasting new OHV motorcycle trail

• Cooperated with Tahoe NF blaster utilizing 130+ holes to successfully extend the construction of moto trail along the American River

• Participated in a backcountry trails construction/rehabilitation detail on the Silver City RD, Gila National Forest in Silver City, NM for 2 weeks in 2021 clearing 10+ year burned blowdown on a backcountry trail with cross cut saws

• Participated in consistent positive and educational conversations and contact with members of the public recreating on the national forest

• Maintained over 20 public campgrounds on our district

• Helped build 2 campgrounds on our forest

• Participated in multiple winter snow surveys

The services provided by myself and my crew are essential for members of the public to access our national forest. We have developed a relationship with the trails and campgrounds we maintain, and with that a priceless understanding of how to efficiently provide this service to the public. This experience has been passed down and expanded over the last century of USFS history. I take pride in my work. I have put my blood, sweat and tears into what I do, at the sacrifice of my body, my health, my relationships and my friends.

When fires exploded in the summer, I tied up my mule, set down my saw and served alongside my fellow firefighters to protect our resources and our people. They called us “the militia”. (Note: the militia is like a “reservist” crew with a blend of non-fire and fire employees that combine to develop 20-person handcrews when more resources are needed to support wildfire operations nationally.)

Losing these Forest Service employees—women and men that dedicate their lives and work tirelessly so that everyone can enjoy the natural beauty of the West—means that we are losing the integral identity of the Forest Service as a whole. Providing this access to our forest is crucial for our area’s (and Montana’s) economy. Hunters rely on this access to feed their families. Outfitters rely on this access to make a living. Ranchers rely on weed management and grazing allotments for their livelihood. Anglers rely on the access, through-hikers rely on the access. People need this access to free themselves from the stresses of this world and connect with each other and the land.

I’m heartbroken and completely devastated to lose a career in which I could be passionate and fulfilled to serve the people. I was born and raised in small town Western Montana, and I have seen the positive effect of Forest Service employees, outfitters and recreationists alike on our small towns. But the value of these folks in the community goes far beyond the economic benefits, and the culture of the wilderness is as fragile as the wilderness itself. The people I’ve worked with in my experience are some of the best people I know. National forests foster an incredible community of people, the very people who make Montana the true last best place.

Myself and my fellow trail dogs humbly request that you and the Montana congressional delegation reverse these mass firings so that we can continue to provide access and manage public land so that EVERYONE can benefit.

“Wilderness is the raw material for civilization.” -Aldo Leopold Respectfully,

-Adin Kloetzel

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Once again, if you have a letter you’d like me to amplify about your own experiences of getting fired from the USFS or NPS, I’d love to share it here. Message me or shoot me an email at amonthei.nw@gmail.com.