In 2022, a conservation nonprofit called the Deschutes Trails Coalition (DTC) started working with the U.S. Forest Service to build and maintain hundreds of miles of hiking trails in central Oregon. The agreement was pretty straightforward: DTC would pay two employees to pitch in alongside the Forest Service’s own trail crew, which numbered six. The eight-person team would repair bridges, clear overgrowth, and cut out trees that had fallen across the trails over the winter—vital work that kept 1,200 miles of trails open to hikers. As the relationship evolved, the Forest Service struggled to maintain its workforce. In September 2024, then-USFS chief Randy Moore said it wouldn’t hire back 2,400 seasonal employees for 2025, including most of its trail crews. Then, in March 2025, the Trump Administration fired 3,400 full-time USFS employees. The staffing woes within the agency forced the DTC to step up. This summer, the nonprofit has paid for five staffers to do trail work. The USFS, me...