They’re calling it the “forest corps.”
Five members of a new support crew will help maintain trails, like clearing downed trees and upkeep campgrounds, and accesses, like cleaning bathrooms, on the Bridger-Teton National Forest (BTNF) after being hired by the nonprofit Friends of Bridger-Teton.
Three of the five, including Forest Corps crew lead Monica Elliott, start this week.
“We can't fill the gap of what these amazing trail crews have done,” she said. “We are going to make as much impact as we can, but it's not going to be enough.”
Elliott was fired from her position as a permanent seasonal employee in February, alongside about 40 others within the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Bekee Hotze is second-in-command at the 3.4 million-acre forest, the largest in the lower 48. In a recent address to Jackson Hole’s tourism industry, she said the Forest Service is short upwards of 700 seasonal employees across the country. The forest is also expecting a typical amount of summer visitors, about 2.5 million.
“People might have to bring their own supplies and become a little bit more prepared when they visit the National Forest than they have in the past,” Hotze said.
Hotze and other forest officials have declined to specify the official number of fired seasonal workers in the Bridger-Teton.
Elliott was reinstated last month alongside several other permanent seasonal employees, but turned down the position.
“It felt really off and it didn't feel like it provided a sense of stability,” she said.
Now, the 30-year-old is leading four other 24-to-30 year-old women with trail experience.
“We're doing what we can and we do this because we care and we really value what the outdoors bring to people and to our lives,” Elliott said.
Layoffs have happened in years past, and a nonprofit trail crew working in tandem with Forest Service staff isn’t unheard of. But this support crew is a first for Friends of Bridger-Teton and in direct response to staffing shortages.
Elliot starts with part of the crew in front country campsites near Pinedale this week, with the full team expected to start in late June.
They’re expected to cover the forest’s six ranger districts, from Pinedale to Moran and down into Afton.
