Federal Cuts Leave the Future of NM Public Lands Uncertain

Courtesy Enchanted Circle Trail Association U.S. Forest Service employees take a break as they work with Enchanted Circle Trail Association to clear trails in Carson National Forest

By Mikayla Ortega
Courtesy of Questa Del Rio News

In President Donald Trump’s second term which he assumed in January of 2025, he created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk. According to the White House, the newly minted department is aimed at “saving taxpayers money and decreasing the U.S. debt.” As a result, U.S. Forest Service staff across the country have seen a significant reduction in staff, of upward of 3,400 employees. These steep cuts will severely impact our communities locally, as Carson National Forest spans 1.5 million acres of land and already has minimal staff managing the forest.

The Enchanted Circle Trails Association is a non-profit organization that has worked to fill the gaps by partnering with the Forest Service to manage outdoor facilities and activities, making them safe and accessible to the public. We spoke with ECTA Executive Director Loren Bell about his concerns on the recent changes at the federal level and how they will impact our forests locally.

While the recreational aspect will likely be a big burden to many, the big concern Bell has regards the potential implications that limited crews could have on fire season. “I am extremely worried. Many people do not understand that a lot of Forest Service staffers are dually trained to respond to fires.” Bell says that regardless of the personnel, they are also often red-card-certified and ready to respond to fires. “These positions range from admin jobs to archeologists. It doesn’t matter what your title, when it’s the 4th of July weekend, for example, you’ll see a lot of staff putting boots on the ground, patrolling the forest, talking to people about safely extinguishing fires and enforcing the fireworks ban.”

With the recent cuts, the very infrastructure and capabilities have been gutted, leaving forests and communities vulnerable and uncertain of what lies ahead.
While Bell says he understands government spending and saving should regularly be considered, he says this is not the appropriate approach. “These decisions that are being made at the federal level will undoubtedly trickle down and impact our local communities. Whether you’re accessing these public lands because you want to go on a run after work, or whether it’s in the fall when you’re needing a trail to hunt to put food on the table, those things are going to be impacted. Businesses relying on tourism and outdoor recreation, they’re going to see that diminish when they realize our trails are in horrible shape, so they’re unable to get out and enjoy them.”

While the implications of many of these abrupt changes won’t be seen and felt until we experience them first-hand. What we’re seeing is an axe being taken to so much of the infrastructure that keeps America safe, with no sincere understanding of how and why things work the way they do.

Last year, 214 individual volunteers contributed 2,187 hours of their time at 39 ECTA sites, working on over 100 miles of trails in the forests in northern New Mexico. According to Bell, in addition to the abrupt slashing of U.S. Forest Service personnel, the uncertainty in government funding to the ECTA non-profit continuing forward hangs in the balance. “I guess this is the waste, fraud and abuse this current administration is targeting by freezing our funding,” Bell says.