Thursday, January 15, 2015

Forest Service Burns Down Taxpayer Dollars

This is the kind of arrogant, out-of-touch government you have, Americans:

"Forest Service pulls plan to spend $10 million on its image" by Jeff Barnard, Associated Press  January 08, 2015

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Faced with a backlash from current and retired employees, the US Forest Service has abruptly dropped plans to spend up to $10 million on a five-year nationwide public relations campaign to brand itself as a public agency that cares about people and nature.

This as services to you, the citizens, are either neglected or cut.

Without giving a reason, the Forest Service issued a statement Tuesday saying that it had not accepted any contract bids and would look for other ways to enhance the public’s access to national forests and understanding about what the agency does. Spokesman Larry Chambers would not answer questions.

The agency has been facing an intense public backlash in the West over plans to close trails and roads to motorized vehicles because of a lack of money for maintenance, as well as to prevent erosion and protect fish and wildlife.

But they got a pot of $10 million for a propaganda effort to improve their image (like healthcare.gov). Seriously?

But a watchdog group and current and retired Forest Service employees had raised concerns that money would be better spent on the ground, instead of trying to enhance the agency’s image, while it struggles to pay to fight wildfires, maintain roads and trails, and offer timber sales....

Well, sometimes you can't $ee the forest for the smoke.

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Speaking of which, did you notice how quickly the California wildfire coverage was extinguished after rain and snow solved both that and the drought due to dilapidated and neglected infrastructure)?