A recent decision to temporarily close the White River National Forest Supervisor’s Office in Glenwood Springs to public walk-in services for lack of staff may forebode staffing difficulties when it comes time to open the new Aspen-Sopris Ranger District Office in Carbondale later this year.
The “public room” at the Glenwood office had already been operating on limited hours during the fall, White River Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams said in a Dec. 16, 2024 news release.
When the last seasonal employee left in December to take another job, and with federal agencies operating under a continuing resolution budget bill until March 14 that includes a hiring freeze for some positions, the decision was made to close the front office until further notice.
“We are looking for solutions to our staffing issues, but we do not have an estimate for when the Supervisor’s Office will be reopened,” Fitzwilliams said in the release.
In the meantime, with the new Aspen-Sopris Ranger District office building still under construction in Carbondale, anyone who needs a permit for forest resources such as firewood, post and pole harvesting, trees for transplanting, or mushroom gathering must go to either the Rifle Ranger District office, or the Eagle-Holy Cross District office in Minturn.
Hiring challenges in general for front-office positions related to low pay and small applicant pools, coupled with expectations for budget tightening under the new Trump administration come the 2025-26 fiscal year, does raise concerns for staffing up at the new Carbondale facility when it opens.
That’s expected to be sometime this summer, said Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Kevin Warner.
“It’s still a little up in the air as to when, so that makes it difficult to know when to even start trying to get someone to fill those positions,” he said.
Optimally, Warner said they would like to have two people in the summertime to be able to handle both phone calls and walk-in traffic at the same time.
That’s in addition to the 20 to 25 full-time professional resource staff, from recreation and resource specialists to wildlife managers, and permanent seasonal employees who will be working out of the office.
Difficulty hiring seasonal office positions, with a wage between $17.27 and $19.33 an hour, and the lack of a visitor information specialist to train those people — that position has been vacant for nearly two years — leaves Warner in a tough position.
“We’ve got a little bit of time to try to figure it out as we get closer,” he said. “But at this point, I would be ecstatic to have one individual working up front so that we can have that open to the public.”
Typical foot traffic in and out of the ranger district offices is manageable — “It’s in the 10s of people (per day), not hundreds, so it’s not huge,” Warner said.
But the combination of foot traffic and answering phone calls does tend to keep two people pretty busy, especially at peak times during the summer and fall and when permits or reservations are in hot demand for things like the Maroon Bells Scenic Area shuttles and access into the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, he said.
While hiring for temporary seasonal workers is on hold, the Forest Service does have the ability to hire what are called “permanent seasonal employees” who could help fill in where needed.
It could also be possible to rotate some of the full-time staff into the front office.
“With any decision like that, though, you’re giving up something else,” Warner said.
The White River National Forest was recently granted permission to rehire up to 21 “partner-funded” positions for operations such as the Maroon Bells shuttle system, and hiking permits for Hanging Lake which is located in the Eagle-Holy Cross District. The reservation system for Hanging Lake is operated in partnership with the City of Glenwood Springs, while the Maroon Bells involves partnerships with RFTA and Pitkin County.
Even then, rehiring all 21 of those positions can be a challenge, Warner said.
“We’re actively looking at our options, but even when we do have the ability to hire and advertise for positions, we tend to get very small applicant pools,” he said. “We’re pretty limited on how much we can pay, and we’re not like a business that can raise the rate of pay based on cost of living, and such.”
Warner added, “We do anticipate that when we do move into the (Carbondale) office, it’ll be fully utilized. We’re really excited to have adequate conference space and an updated, more professional work environment for everyone.”
For now, the nearest Forest Service locations for walk-in business are the Rifle Ranger District, 0094 County Road 244, Rifle; and the Eagle-Holy Cross Ranger District, 24747 US Highway 24, Minturn.