Wes Siler

1 week ago | wessiler.substack.com | Wes Siler

The National Parks Conservation Association estimates that 2,400 to 2,500 staff at the National Park Service have accepted voluntary buyouts or early retirements offered by the Trump administration. Those losses add to the 1,000 NPS staff with probationary status who were fired on February 14 (an unknown number of which have returned to their jobs). Just three months ago, full-time NPS staffing stood at 20,000 people. Today, that number may already be lower than 17,000.

1 week ago | wessiler.substack.com | Wes Siler

Been a while since I’ve done one of these. And while I’ve been slammed covering the great public land heist, you guys have still been reaching out for plenty of help, so let’s round up some highlights from those conversations. As a reminder, the idea with this Substack project is to formalize my relationship with my readers. I’m using it to write the kind of articles that can no longer exist in corporate media outlets, and those are finding large audiences.

2 weeks ago | wessiler.substack.com | Wes Siler

Think of REI, and the first thing that pops into your mind is probably a helpful interaction you had with a friendly, knowledgeable person in a green vest. But the company is working to prevent those employees from unionizing, in order to keep their pay low and benefits limited. While that’s going on, REI has also blocked employee-backed candidates from its board, and is cozying up to the Trump administration. The good news is that all of us have a chance to send these fucks a message. Here’s how.

2 weeks ago | wessiler.substack.com | Wes Siler

“We’re facing a national forest emergency," stated U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins last week, announcing her order to expedite timber permitting across 112 million acres of national forest. “We have an abundance of timber at high risk of wildfires in our National Forests.” So the plan, of course, is to skip the process that enables logging projects to reduce wildfire risk, and just proceed willy nilly. The map up top was produced by USDA to accompany Rollins’ order.

2 weeks ago | wessiler.substack.com | Wes Siler

“This episode involves a lot of swearing,” warns host Adam Bronstein. Seems appropriate when you’re talking about Justin Timberlake and Tom Brady stealing an entire mountain range in Montana. Listen here:Direct MP3Apple PodcastsSpotifyWes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life outdoors. Upgrading to a paid subscription supports independent journalism and gives you personal access to his expertise and network, which he’ll use to help you plan trips, purchase gear, and solve problems.