While much of the attention Friday regarding the latest round of White House-mandated layoffs and firings of federal workers centered in Georgia on the CDC, another agency that serves a large portion of northeast Georgia is taking a hit: the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).
It has an office in Gainesville – and has had for many years – which oversees the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forests.
Reports Friday said the U.S. Forest Service will fire about 3,400 employees across every level of the agency, which has roughly 35,000 employees and is a part of the U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA). Public safety employees — including firefighters with the Forest Service — are being exempted from the downsizing, which like at the CDC, involves probationary employees. There was no word late Friday on how many, if any, of the cuts are being made at the Gainesville office.
Even the department that Gainesville’s Doug Collins now heads, Veterans Affairs, was not immune to President Trump’s axe. The VA is losing about 1,000 employees.