FILE - The Beachie Creek Fire burned nearly 200,000 acres east of Salem, including this stretch near the Santiam River. The wildfire was one of five megafires that burned during the 2020 Labor Day Fires in Oregon.
Evan Rodriguez/OPB / OPB
Fall is the busy season for forestry work, like fuels reduction. Summer fire restrictions have ended, and winter snow has not yet arrived.
But Armando Lopez, owner of DL Reforestation in Jackson County, said the federal government shutdown has put his work on hold. Inspectors can’t visit project areas, and he’s waiting on hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments. Every day, he eagerly checks whether the government has reopened.
“I look at the news, and I don’t see anything happening,” Lopez said.
Lopez employs around 40 workers, most of them on temporary H-2B visas. If the shutdown doesn’t end next week, Lopez said, he won’t be able to pay them.
“I don’t think they’re going to stay here for a week or two without doing anything,” he said.
Related: Thousands of federal workers in Oregon brace for first missed paycheck
Lopez said he’s paused a large fuels-reduction project in Northern California. If the government shutdown continues, he’ll miss the pre-winter window to work in that area.
The Oregon Department of Forestry said in a statement that payment delays for contractors like Lopez are varied, depending on the federal agency and funding source.
“Field operations, invoicing and reporting will temporarily cease for projects funded by the Bureau of Land Management and Natural Resource Conservation Service,” according to the ODF. “We’ve been communicating with the impacted project sponsors about the interruptions in funding.”
But U.S. Forest Service, state, private and tribal forestry awards are continuing.
Terry Fairbanks, executive director of Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative, said Forest Service payments have been held up but are eventually being processed.
“Delays, definitely. But a total stone wall — no,” she said.
Related: ‘This is on them’: As shutdown continues, Oregon members of Congress point fingers over health care
According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture document, payments are being processed for work performed by contractors “considered a priority.”
Dustin Rymph, coordinator with the Southern Willamette Forest Collaborative, said contractors are currently doing fuels reduction work in the area. Pile burning, although briefly delayed, is also moving forward.
“There definitely was some lost momentum during a really important burn window,” said Rymph.
Justin Higginbottom is a reporter with Jefferson Public Radio. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
