STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

A Save Our Civil Servants Rally will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Supporters are asked to meet outside the Hailey Town Center West at Croy and River Streets.

The Trump Administration has laid off thousands of federal workers nationwide across a wide spectrum of agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service.

Hitting close to home are the terminations at the U.Ss. Forest Service, which laid off 3,400 workers nationwide after the Trump administration decided to terminate federal employees who have been hired in the last two years or moved to new positions within the agency.

It has already been felt locally as Susan Kranz, interpretive specialist and volunteer coordinator at the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, notified those at Galena lodge that the remainder of this winter’s popular Snowshoe with a Ranger tours would be cancelled. The tours have been ongoing for 20 years.

Forest Service workers say Sun Valley-area residents and visitors will see the effects this summer with campgrounds and restrooms suffering from a lack of maintenance and trails littered with downed logs and other damage from winter snows. Perhaps most concerning is the risk of inadequate response to summer wildfires.

Hailey resident Patti Doerr said the cuts extend beyond even that: “We’re impacted by federal employees every single day of our lives.”