Forest Service Law Enforcement Hindered by Inadequate Budget...2015 UPDATE

[snowpack]

BT, overall did it create more government positions?  Under the old system were there additional employees at each district to handle the LEO affairs or the same group of people there now? 

[bigtex]

BT, overall did it create more government positions?  Under the old system were there additional employees at each district to handle the LEO affairs or the same group of people there now?

There are only about a third of USFS LEOs now as there were in the early 90s. As an example, in the 90s each Ranger District in WA had at least one LEO. Now there are more Ranger Districts then there are LEOs, and a lot of Ranger Districts were combined in the late 90s. So now in WA there is less than one LEO per district statewide. I know an LEO in E WA covering three districts, and they aren't slow areas either.

Now as far as I know, USFS as an agency has also seen an overall decline in personnel numbers.

The only federal land management agency that has seen their LEO numbers increase is BLM. NPS is down by about 15% since 2000 and USFWS is down by 50%.

[Elkaholic daWg]

The farther it is from bottom to top breeds inefficiency, politics,  and trust issues

[buckfvr]

We can all respect a chain of command, its the tiers in the chain of command that appear excessive, not the make up.

[washelkhunter]

You all have to remember, USFS LEO's was a "created" position.

When first introduced to us in the Methow district, it would be "paid" for from the sales of "wood premits" aka Firewood!!  "if not enough sales of permits, the position would be eliminated"   AND you thought government LYING to its citizens was something new!!

All "Problems" have a beginning, that is where you have to start to find a solution.

Like a snowball rolling down hill, from there!

Geee, I wonder what happened to the USFS "revenue" oh ya, its been going up in smoke of decades now instead of being turned into 2x4's !!!

There ya go!   

[bigtex]

We can all respect a chain of command, its the tiers in the chain of command that appear excessive, not the make up.

How is it excessive?

For the USFS you have an special agent in charge (SAC) who covers one USFS region and reports to LE Director, there are 10 regions. An Assistant SAC is under the SAC and supervises a group of Special Agents (detectives/investigators) and several Commanders. Under the ASAC are several Commanders which supervise the patrol aspect of a specific part of a region. Under the Commander you have a Patrol Captain who supervises officers on numerous forests.

So for example a USFS Officer in Cle Elum reports to the Captain who supervises USFS LEOs on the Okanogan-Wenatchee and Colville National Forests. This Captain reports to the Commander for WA. The Commander for WA reports to the ASAC who then reports to the SAC.

In comparison to WDFW where you have Chief>Deputy Chief>Captain>Sergeant>Officer

[Elkaholic daWg]

Rather have the county Sheriff take care of it and keep it close to home myself

[bigtex]

Rather have the county Sheriff take care of it and keep it close to home myself

County/state officers cant enforce USFS regulations unless there is an applicable state/county law, and in most cases there isn't an applicable law.....

[Heredoggydoggy]

This doesn't just effect Forest Service LE personnel, but also county sheriff's.

Most county sheriff's in this state that have USFS lands receive funding from the USFS to have sheriff deputies patrol USFS lands, as an example about 25% of the Skamania County Sheriff's Office is funded by the USFS. So you can imagine those contracting funds from the USFS to Sheriff's will decrease as well.

So not only will there be less USFS LE personnel in the woods, there will be less Sheriff's Deputies as well.

Well I would venture to guess that USFS  LE would be a better  place for federal  tax dollars to go  than This damn thing here!!

SWAT stands for "Special Weapons And Tactics".  I wonder if any of these guys know any Tactics? 

[bigtex]

The Fiscal Year 2015 budget request (begins Oct 1) for the USFS includes a 10% increase for the National Forest System at a cost of $144 million.

HOWEVER

USFS Law Enforcement is again looking at another self initiated cut to it's law enforcement program. USFS LE is looking at a 1% CUT at the cost of approximately $1 million.