After Oregon’s record wildfire season in 2024, local communities and government officials are concerned that ongoing personnel purges at federal land management agencies could leave the region shorthanded for pre-season fire mitigation projects and unprepared to combat deadly conflagrations when they break out later this year. The U.S. government owns 32 million acres of land in Oregon – more than half the land in the state – which is primarily managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Last summer the two agencies saw 1.6 million acres of that property go up in smoke. Precisely how, or if, job cuts ordered under the Trump administration will impact Oregon’s wildfire work remains unclear. But earlier this month, Gov. Tina Kotek sent a letter to the secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior expressing her concerns about federal funding for wildfire suppression and related workforce reductions. Read more at the link in our bio. 📸: Gra...