While the firing of thousands of U.S. Forest Service personnel across Colorado and the rest of the nation has captured headlines about natural resource employee losses, another lesser-known federal agency office in Steamboat Springs also had staff fired this month.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service office in Steamboat lost two employees in February, according to an NRCS spokesperson.

The conservation service supports farmers, ranchers and forest landowners and helps producers, soil and water conservation districts, and other partners protect and conserve natural resources on private lands.

---

---

The two fired NRCS positions included a resource conservationist and a natural resources specialist. In addition, the position for the office’s permanent resource team lead was offered and accepted in January but then the offer was rescinded this month, said Erin Gelling, one of the employees fired via email the evening of Feb. 13.

Now, the local four-person conservation service office is down to one permanent staff member.

---

---

Gelling, who earned a master’s degree in rangeland ecology from the University of Wyoming, said the termination email noted the firing was effective immediately. Gelling said she had no opportunity to hand over projects or notify the landowners she was assisting.

“The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest,” the email stated.

Gelling was promoted in September after being hired in March and received a Spot award for work performance. She said she received a “fully successful” rating across all categories in her six-month performance review.

“I’m devastated by this, not only for myself, for Northwest Colorado and for our ranchers and farmers whom we worked with,” Gelling said Monday.

Since the two employees had not passed the one-year mark, they were considered to be probationary, according to federal standards. Gelling, whose lives in southern Routt County and plans to do consulting work, said the fired employees received no severance.

Partnering nonprofit organizations in the region have reported a loss of approximately 20 employees fired this month across the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland that spans nearly 2.9 million acres in Routt County, northern Colorado and eastern Wyoming.

“Any cuts to the Forest Service and other resource personnel will be very impactful for projects related to forest health and wildfire mitigation, wetland restoration, wildlife habitat, in addition to management of recreational uses of the forest,” said Tim Sullivan, natural climate solutions project manager at Yampa Valley Sustainability Council. “This comes on top of the Forest Service already not being able to hire their regional seasonals this year that was previously announced.”

Lyn Halliday, a six-year board member of the Routt County Conservation District, said the two NRCS technicians hired in spring 2024 filled slots that were vacant for some time because one past employee moved to another federal agency and one moved out of state. The conservation district is an elected board that works closely with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“This is a real problem for the district and our ag community because NRCS offers funding to help local farmers and ranchers for resource conservation projects,” Halliday said. “We were happy when we got those two technicians. They have been working very hard within the ag community and doing a good job.”

Halliday said the conservation service firings will be an impediment for farmers and ranchers trying to apply for grants for projects in such areas as irrigation efficiency, soil health, grazing plans, wildlife habitat and weed control.

“There are not that many people who can afford to live here at those salaries, so it’s challenging to bring people on board,” Halliday said of the federal job search process in Routt County.

A national press team spokesperson representing the conservation service sent the following response:

“Secretary (Brooke) Rollins fully supports President Trump’s directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies and strengthen USDA’s ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers and the agriculture community. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar is being spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.

“As part of this effort, USDA has released individuals in their probationary period of employment. Secretary Rollins understands the array of mission-critical positions and programs at the department, and she will ensure that those areas have the resources and personnel they need to continue serving the American people,” according to the statement.

Reporters for the Steamboat Pilot & Today reached out multiple times to public affairs representatives for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to find out how many employees in Routt and Moffat counties were fired this month.

The BLM national press office did not respond, and the Forest Service did not provide employee numbers.

Ten days from the initial query, the Forest Service national press team response on Feb. 24 started with opening remarks similar to those from the NRCS press team answer.

“As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service,” the Forest Service statement added. “To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters. Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA funding.”

Aaron Voos, public affairs specialist for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland office in Laramie, Wyoming, noted earlier this month, “Currently all media requests need Washington office approval.”

A Colorado government spokesperson said Monday that 94 employees were fired from Rocky Mountain Region 2 of the Forest Service, which includes 17 national forests and seven national grasslands.

The majority of those fired employees worked in the areas of recreation (46 employees) and timber (22 employees). Other Forest Service positions where firings have occurred include fuels, range, public affairs, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), wildlife, hydro and heritage.