In rural northern California, residents prepare for federal cuts

From Jean QuangCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Far from the halls of power in Washington, the afforestation Hamlet of Mount Shasta has long been bound by her economic fate to a functioning federal government.

But even in a county where the cuts of President Donald Trump could hit the region’s economy hard, some welcome them. Nearly 60% of the voters there supported the president.

The last two months have been a vortex for rural cities in California such as Mount Shasta, a population of 3200, where the federal lands are abounding and outdoor recreation is causing the local economy. The test federal workers were sharply fired, after which they were restored at a court order, such as a further reduction of the power station. Local organizations diverged when the Federal Government froze some of the grant for fire preparation, path maintenance and other work, after which some saw the money again to cost again, but without a guarantee that it would continue.

The Club of Sierra and other non -profit organizations are being sued by the Trump administration to turn the dismissal of the forest services.

The owners of companies and employees in the forest cities, extremely dependent on recreation and tourism, are worried about whether there will be enough federal workers to maintain open paths, the campsites clean and the visitors come.

Some forest cities, such as Mammoth lakes in East Sierra Nevada, are trying to fulfill some expected federal losses with their own dollars. But this would be a difficult enterprise for many others.

“We are a poor, rural district,” said the head of Sisyu County Ed Valenzuela, who represents Mount Shasta. “The federal funding is not like the money will be reproduced anywhere else.”

Rural California relies on federal funding

He has a cause for concern. The name mountain towers above the small town, attracting thousands of visitors to climb and skiing. In its surrounding County Cisskiu, over 60% of the land is owned and is managed by the US Forest Service. Up to 6% of the district labor force was hired by the federal government, according to census data.

The second is after the neighboring County Lasen. Both are among the most resting Trump counties in the state. In Siskio County, almost 60% voted for the president in November.

Forecasts from government agencies show that other small, wooden counties in Northern California and Sierra Nevada also have high shares of federal employment. In contrast, although federal agencies work many more people in the offices in urban counties, they are only responsible for 1-2% of the workforce there.

“Things are increasing in a small community,” says Tonya Dose, CEO of the Cisisu Economic Development Council, a non -profit purpose, which receives several federal grants to support small businesses, farmers and cities, including Mount Shasta. “Small reductions are felt to a greater extent.”

The Federal Land constitutes the greater part of many rural counties already engaged in Probable loss of millions of federal dollars This supports their school systems and public work departments. Rural hospitals are Overall more scheduled About the Medicaid Massive Health Program. Their population is older and more, which makes the social security administration and federally funded safety programs.

Federal employees are not about to have exactly how many workers have been fired and restored in recent weeks, and locals say they are sure. The Forest Service in February reduced at least 3400 test staff across the country. The Washington Post announced last week that the administration is planning new cuts of between 8% to 50% for federal agenciesS

A spokesman for the Forest Service, who would not provide a name, would only say that the test staff who were fired in February were placed in March under a “gradual plan to return a duty”. Thomas Stoxbury, a spokesman for the National Forest of Shasta-Trinity, directed a separate request for a breakdown of the abbreviations of the staff of the regional press center of the Forest Service, which did not respond.

In Mount Shasta, everyone seems to know someone who is affected. John Redmond, the owner of a bar, who is also mayor, said his regular, working at the local forest office, did not spend as much as they were fired or heard of cuts. Timothy Kitting, a long -time mountain guide, said it depends on the fully personal forest services to approve of his operating permits.

Down the street, the manager of the outdoor goods store named Michel is also worried about economic fall. She would not give her surname for fear of not attracting the attention of her husband, a federal employee, whom she said she was worried to lose her work in the next round of reductions.

“Many federal workers make up our middle class,” she said. “This can really hurt our local tax base and cost levels.”

Trump’s abbreviations will hit a split county

Others, however, welcome the cuts, even if they are going to hit the local economy.

While the city of Mount Shasta is liberal, its streets of Subarus, Crystal Shops and Bed and Breakfasts, welcoming climbers outside the city, are quickly inferior to huge sections of the county, where the ranches and logs have long been confronted with environmentalists and fed into state and fed.

The many years of outrage at the management of forest services and the decline in the timber industry divided the county.

Many in Mount Shasta cheered when then President Joe Biden then in his last days of service in January appointed a new national monument to the lands of forests outside the city, increasing the federal defense there. Other residents of Siskiou County, including leader W. Jess Harris, noted when Trump said last month that he could cancel the designation.

Harris admits that the county relies on the federal government for both services and jobs – but he said it should not be the case. He hopes the federal cuts will reduce the grants of non -profit environmental organizations, which he believes have prevented the private industry.

Ordinances such as those that limit felling for the protection of owl spots, listed as an endangered species, “have effectively damaged all our natural resources industries,” he said. “Our area is just a great example of what happens when you kill the industry and rely on government jobs.”

Dan dorsi, chairman of the local Republican Party, said he welcomed the reduction in federal costs and did not believe that the cuts would be drastic.

“I think the idea is to sit down and wait and see where the cuts will be made, and do we really need these programs?” he said. “We have too many losses everywhere.”

Other local politicians are caught in the middle.

The Heather Hadwick Assembly, a Republican of Albenas, represents 11 village counties in Northern California, including Sishu. She said she was worried about the economic pulsation effects of job loss in small towns and about financing the delay of local firing projects when the season is now to do these preparations.

This is also personal. Hadwick’s husband manages a local office of the US Department of Agriculture and she saw firsthand how his people are stressed. “But her area, which she said she already has a deep distrust of the government, votes for cuts and inspection costs.

“I think it will be uncomfortable for a while and harm, I know that some of those programs that you take deep about will be affected,” she said. “My area is very conservative and I am very conservative … I will trust my president and trust what it does is best.”

Both with federal uncertainty and local polarization, some are hesitant to speak publicly against the abbreviations. The leader of a non -profit purpose in Siskiyu district describes how the group of the group had a grant for the forests temporarily frozen, delaying the hiring of contractors. But after meeting the rest of the organization, the leader asked to withdraw his comments, emphasizing the need to remain “apolitical”.

Other forest cities are preparing

In Bluer parts of California, some forest cities are trying to install little resistance. The members of the Truki Council, near Lake Taho, last month passed a resolution During possible federal cuts, citing the impact they would have on the region’s ability to prevent fires and accommodate tourists visiting the Tahoe National Forest.

Such resolutions have passed a handful of local fire protection regions and in the eastern part of Sierra Nevada on Mamut Lakes.

The city, a population of 7200, balloons to almost improvement of its size during the weekends, from skiers in winter to backpacks, climbers and tourists in the spring, summer and autumn. It needs visitors: nearly three -quarters of Mammoth Lakes revenue comes from a hotel bed tax and Airbnbs, said Mayor Chris Bubser.

Bubser said the city has already hired a new staff member to take trash and help maintain local campsites if there are not enough forest service staff this summer.

In March, the Mammoth Lakes City Council agreed to provide $ 700,000 to finance bridges for a forest and fire resilience project, led by a local non -profit purpose, which covers 58,000 acres of mainly national forest land around the city. The project relies on about $ 17 million in various federal grants, some of which are frozen, she said. But Bubser said he did not want the project to slow down, risking contractors to leave the city if they could not be hired on time.

“How, as a government in small cities, do we have to plan and fulfill when the earth moves below us?” she said. “We must be prepared for every situation. We are alone here.”

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.