TRUCKEE, Calif. – A Truckee Town councilmember is rallying fellow councilmembers and the community to support a resolution opposing federal funding cuts and staff freezes pertaining to public lands and forests at the next Truckee Town Council meeting.

“This is about standing up for and protecting our forests, our public lands,” Councilmember and Former Mayor Courtney Henderson told the Sun, “but also our community and our resiliency, as we think about mitigating wildfires, and then also our economy.”

The Truckee Town Council will consider the formal resolution on Tuesday, March 11. The councilmember is calling on the community to participate and express views on the matter.

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“It’s not a partisan issue,” Henderson says. “It is very much a life and safety issue.”

Henderson points to the 21 employees who have already been laid off across the Tahoe District of the U.S. Forest Service, which covers the Truckee area, stating this accounts for 10% of Forest Service staff in the region. Further, Henderson states no new seasonal positions are being funded.

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This means less personnel to mount a prompt response or monitor a wildfire that breaks out, or ensure campground fires are appropriately extinguished.

“We know how quickly, a campground fire can really escalate if it’s a high fire risk day or high wind conditions or if it’s really dry,” Henderson expresses, pondering the costs of the cuts.

“I think government should always work to find efficiency,” Henderson says. “We work with taxpayer dollars. It’s incumbent upon us to find efficiency for our constituents.” But the resolution leader says, “At the same time, we also have to invest appropriately around the issues that are going to keep our communities safe and healthy and resilient.”

These cuts and freezes, Henderson believes, could also result in less personnel to get ahead and gather the on-the-ground data that informs wildfire modeling, or complete fuels reduction projects on public lands.

What’s exacerbates the concern for the councilmember is the wildfire risk the summer will see after a low snow year.

Henderson isn’t just calling on Truckee’s leaders and community in the opposition push, but extending across the Sierra Nevada.

“The reality is that wildfire doesn’t respect jurisdictional boundaries,” the councilmember states. That’s why Henderson personally feels the need to take a region-wide approach and rally other agencies in adopting a similar resolution after Truckee’s.

“My hope is that our elected officials who represent us across the region really listen to their constituents and understand that these funding cuts and staff freezes have very real implications on the ground for our communities throughout the Sierra Nevada.”

The March 11 Council meeting starts at 5 p.m. at the Truckee Town Hall located next to the airport at 10183 Truckee Airport Road. That’s where the councilmember hopes the conversation and considered resolution ignite wider action.

“I think this is an opportunity to show, not just as a community in Truckee,” Henderson says, “as a region, that there actually are places where we have shared values, where we can all stand together, where not every issue has to divide us—it can actually bring us together.”