Home Care In Pisgah Forest, NC

HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. —

The U.S. Forest Service is responding to multiple wildfires across all four National Forests in North Carolina.

Unseasonably warm weather and low humidity have heightened fire risks. Careless debris burning remains the leading cause. Residents and visitors are urged to check burn bans and fire restrictions.

Firefighters are constructing new containment lines, reinforcing existing ones, conducting aerial reconnaissance and using mechanized equipment to manage heavy fuel loads partly due to Hurricane Helene.

The U.S. Forest Service said that Red Flag Warnings persist bringing gusty winds, low relative humidity, dry fuels and shifting winds.

As of Sunday morning, firefighters are working to contain the fires throughout the following forests and districts:

Nantahala National ForestMcClure Road Fire (Tusquitee Ranger District, Cherokee County) ~20 acres, located 6 miles southwest along US-64.

Pisgah National ForestHicks Cemetery Fire (Appalachian Ranger District, Haywood County) ~50 acres, located on the west side of the Pigeon River west of I-40 at Cold Springs Creek Road/Forest Road 288.

Uwharrie National ForestFalls Dam ~300 acres, (Montgomery County) located south of the Art Lily Campground and North of the Yadkin River Dam Overlook.

Croatan National ForestRamshorn Fire (Carteret County) ~114 acres, located ~3 miles west of Ashley Place/US Route 70 adjacent to Nine Foot Road.

Previous Coverage:

On Saturday night, the North Carolina Forest Service reported nearly a dozen fires across all four forests of the National Forests in North Carolina.

One new fire has been reported in the Pisgah National Forest (Appalachian Ranger District) along Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge south of the recently reopened section.

Four fires have been reported in the Nantahala National Forest (two are in the Cheoah Ranger District, one in the Nantahala Ranger District, and one in the Tusquitee Ranger District).

Rangers report three fires in the Croatan National Forest, two of which have been reported as contained.

Three fires have been reported in the Uwharrie National Forest.

The fires come after a Red Flag Warning was issued due to dry and windy conditions throughout the Southeast.

Rangers said acreages and more precise locations will be forthcoming when assessments are completed.

More information will be available tomorrow.

ASHEVILLE – Caroline Becker was on the phone with her mother when her supervisor called to let her know that she was on a list of probationary employees who would soon lose their job with the U.S. Forest Service.

Becker, 23, who was employed as a GIS specialist at the agency's Asheville headquarters, would have celebrated her one-year anniversary as a full-time employee on Feb. 25, the day her probationary period was set to end, she said.

Instead, Becker received a letter from Deedra Fogle, the U.S. Forest Service’s human resources director, on Feb. 14, notifying Becker of her termination. Like many others federal workers fired over Presidents' Day weekend, her performance was cited as the reason.

“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” Fogle wrote, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by the Citizen Times.

Becker is just one of the estimated 3,400 U.S. Forest Service workers to be fired amid the Trump administration’s dramatic effort to gut the federal workforce. The effort, led by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and its head, billionaire Elon Musk, started soon after President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, with a hiring freeze and buyout offers sent to more than 2 million federal workers.

Now, nearly a month later, it appears the effort has entered a new phase with the termination of thousands of probationary workers, like Becker.

“I knew it was going to come at some point,” Becker told the Citizen Times on Feb. 17. “I just wasn’t expecting it to be this soon.”

Asheville is headquarters to the U.S. Forest Service's four national forests in North Carolina — Nantahala, Pisgah, Uwharrie and Croatan. The Nantahala and Pisgah, which cover the rugged, mountainous region of Western North Carolina, are the largest at 1.1 million acres combined, with some 5 million visitors a year. They are considered two of the busiest national forests in the country, with hot spots such as Bent Creek, Shining Rock Wilderness, Looking Glass Falls and Max Patch along the Appalachian Trail.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, told the Citizen Times in a Feb. 14 email that the agency’s terminations were part of “a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar is being spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.”

‘Losing the future of the agency’

These most recent cuts to the federal workforce may just the beginning, given Trump's signing of a Feb. 11 executive order calling on department and agency heads to plan for “large-scale reductions in force.”

But the job losses within the U.S. Forest Service already amount to about 10% of its 35,000-person workforce.

For Western North Carolina, the terminations come less than five months after Tropical Storm ripped through the region, damaging more than 185,000 acres of national forest, about 20% of the total acreage. The storm, which the agency expects will take years to recover from, hit Pisgah National Forest particularly hard, damaging facilities and infrastructure like roadways, as well as downing trees throughout its 500,000 acres, increasing wildfire risk.

A December wildfire in a portion of Pisgah National Forest in McDowell County, east of Asheville, burned more than 500 acres.

A program manager with the U.S. Forest Service who spoke to the Citizen Times on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from her employer, said the recent firings are a huge strain on the already understaffed agency and pose a major threat to the Helene recovery effort and future wildfire response.

“It’s more than just the workload, we’re losing the future of the agency,” she said. “These are bright, talented, young folks who have gone into public service, not for the paycheck but because they want to do good for the world.”

Multiple employees she supervised were terminated in the recent purge, she said. Termination letters, she was told, cited performance as the basis for the firings — falsely she believes, given she conducted the employees' evaluations and no performance issues were noted.

“We’re grieving for our lost colleagues,” she said. “I wept through the weekend just thinking about having to return to work and watch them pick up their things on Tuesday.”

Many U.S. Forest Service employees fired over the weekend told the Citizen Times that performance was cited in the letters they received, even though they all received good evaluations, they said. Sources familiar with the terminations said nearly 20 people working in the region had been affected so far.

Most former employees spoke to the Citizen Times on the condition of anonymity, fearful speaking out could threaten future job prospects. Several said they were uncertain what they would do for work, if they would even qualify for unemployment benefits and were worried their health insurance coverage would end this week. Several said they believe the terminations were unlawful and were hopeful they would regain their jobs with the U.S. Forest Service, either through court rulings, or years in the future, under a different administration.

Due largely to the impacts from Helene, Buncombe County's unemployment rate in December was 6%, the second highest in the state, according to data released by the North Carolina Department of Commerce on Feb. 5.

On Feb. 12, the National Federation of Federal Employees and other labor unions filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging the firing of probationary employees, the buyout offers and the large-scale reductions in force Trump called for in his executive order.

“The Trump Administration’s executive actions to gut the federal workforce are not only illegal, but will also have damaging consequences for federal employees and the public services they provide,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin in a Feb. 13 statement. “The courts must intervene and hold this Administration accountable for violating federal laws before it is too late.”

One former employee, still somewhat in denial, was in her car with her two young children when she received a call from her supervisor Feb. 16 informing her of her termination.

“I’m still hoping that someone’s gonna say, ‘Oh that was a mistake. We recognize we really do need these people, especially for Helene recovery,’” she said.

Becker, like most employees the Citizen Times spoke with, also worked on storm response.

Before she was fired, Becker had been working on compiling data and mapping for engineers rebuilding roads destroyed by Helene, she said.

“It just makes me so angry that these people are losing their jobs through no fault of their own,” Becker said. “I was doing a fine job.”

Jacob Biba is the Helene recovery reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Email him at [email protected].

The U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist who was fired under the Trump administration’s recent federal employee layoffs said his termination was rescinded on Sunday because his position was deemed “Mission Critical.”

Mike Knoerr, the only wildlife biologist covering the more than 500,000-acre Pisgah National Forest in Western North Carolina, said on social media that the revocation came just a couple days after he returned his equipment and finished the exit process.

“I was provided no information regarding what prompted this change, or how many of my colleagues received similar letters,” Knoerr’s post said. “I am not able to comment further.”

Knoerr could not be immediately reached on Monday.

The U.S. Forest Service is a federal agency that manages the country’s forests, public lands, and wildlife and employs over 35,000 people across the country, its website says.

President Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, overseen by billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk, have laid off thousands off federal employees in an attempt to reduce the government workforce.

This included 3,400 U.S. Forest Service workers. Public safety positions, including firefighters, were exempt from the terminations.

Jenifer Bunty, another terminated Forest Service employee from Western North Carolina, posted on Facebook on Feb. 17 that the agency had lost 17 employees, all working on hurricane recovery projects in North Carolina forests.

It appears Bunty’s post was deleted and it is not clear if her termination was also rescinded.

Federal employees going through their probationary period were primarily targeted by the layoffs and told their performance was the reason for their termination.

Knoerr was two weeks away from completing a 12-month probationary period when he was initially told he was being terminated. He, Bunty, and other employees going through their probationary period were told their performance was the reason for the layoffs.

But both Knoerr and Bunty have said that they received excellent performance reviews, and Knoerr was set to advance to “career status” after his supervisor recently filed paperwork.

Lawsuits have been filed by labor unions, including the National Federation of Federal Employees, challenging the terminations of probationary employees. Forbes reported some positions have been reinstated.

It isn’t clear how many Forest Service workers have had their terminations rescinded or been rehired.

Knoerr said he returns to work on Tuesday.

“I am deeply thankful to the outpouring of support from all of you. Your voice was important,” said Knoerr, who lives in Asheville. “Your humanity is something I’ll never forget.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 12:50 PM.

The Charlotte Observer

Jeff A. Chamer is a breaking news reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He’s lived a few places, but mainly in Michigan where he grew up. Before joining the Observer, Jeff covered K-12 and higher education at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts.

The only wildlife biologist who covered the more than 500,000-acre Pisgah National Forest says he was one of the thousands of U.S. Forest Service workers let go under the Trump administration’s recent federal employee layoffs.

Another terminated Forest Service employee from Western North Carolina posted on Facebook on Monday that the agency had lost 17 employees, all working on hurricane recovery projects North Carolina forests.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump’s administration and the Department of Government Efficiency overseen by billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk have laid off thousands of federal employees in an attempt to reduce the government workforce.

This included 3,400 employees at the U.S. Forest Service, the agency’s union president told Bloomberg Law on Thursday. Public safety Forest Service employees, including firefighting jobs, were exempt from the firings, according to Politico.

Mike Knoerr, who lives in Asheville and has spent the last 20 years working in wildlife conservation, said in a social media post on Friday it was a “devastating sucker punch” to be fired from his “dream job.”

Knoerr declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday.

“Without my and other critical positions filled, Pisgah National Forest will be unable to meet statutory law requirements as it navigates both Helene recovery and every day work,” Knoerr’s post said. “Our most dedicated public servants were fired right when we need them most.”

The U.S. Forest Service is a federal agency that manages the country’s forests, public lands, and wildlife and employs over 35,000 people across the country, its website says.

This included Knoerr, who said he juggled multiple responsibilities, including “monitoring rare species, to improving habitat conditions for game animals, to restoring spruce-fir forest and wetlands, to prescribed fire.”

In recent months his work has been focused on Helene recovery.

“Much of my work in the coming years would have been focused on making our floodplains more resilient, addressing fuel risks, and working to keep rare species on the landscape,” he said.

But now, with his termination, there’s no one left to do his work in the region.

That’s work for which he received “stellar” performance reviews, he said, and a job at which he was never reprimanded. He was two weeks away from completing his 12-month probationary period, and was set to advance to “career status” after his supervisor had recently filed the paperwork, his post said.

Yet it was his performance that was cited as the reason for his termination, his post said. He included a quote from the agency in his post.

“The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,” Knoerr’s post said.

Thousands of federal employees at other agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Education Department, and the National Park Service have been laid off under Trump and Musk, who have also tried to freeze federal funding to a litany of government programs and agencies in order to scrutinize and reduce government spending.

Federal employees going through their probationary period, like Knoerr, were primarily targeted by the layoffs and told their performance was the reason for their termination.

Lawsuits have been filed by labor unions, including the National Federation of Federal Employees, challenging the terminations of probationary employees. Some positions have been reinstated, according to Forbes.

There haven’t been any reports of Forest Service workers being reinstated as of Wednesday afternoon.

The staff reductions have Knoerr concerned about the agency’s ability to lead recovery efforts in the region.

“I’m not opposed to finding efficiencies in our government. But the tools being leveraged today are hammers, not scalpels,” his post said. “They are breaking the agencies tasked with critical work, not refining them.”

Jenifer Bunty, the fired worker who made the Facebook post, wrote that she worked 19 days straight after Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina on Sept. 26.

“People needed us,” she wrote. “Our first focus was clearing a path to get to 35 kids and their teachers who were trapped in a facility behind several landslides and giant piles of debris. After that, we focused on supporting search and rescue, clearing roads for emergency access, and helping everywhere we could.

“On Thursday, I stood on the ruined part of I-40 with a team planning how to stick an interstate back on the side of a mountain. People probably don’t realize that portion sits on National Forest land and cannot be fixed without Forest Service employees. That afternoon we got word that 14 of our employees were indiscriminately fired. All of them were actively working on hurricane recovery.”

Like Knoerr, a letter said her termination was performance-based. Bunty wrote that she only had excellent performance reviews.

Do you have information about how federal changes are affecting government agencies or nonprofits in North Carolina? Contact Observer editor Lisa Vernon Sparks at [email protected] or by phone at 980-297-6607 to help us investigate.

This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 3:55 PM.

The Charlotte Observer

Jeff A. Chamer is a breaking news reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He’s lived a few places, but mainly in Michigan where he grew up. Before joining the Observer, Jeff covered K-12 and higher education at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts.

ASHEVILLE - Numerous trails in the Pisgah National Forest are now open to hikers and visitors — including the popular Catawba Falls — months after Tropical Storm Helene brought tens of millions of dollars in damages to North Carolina's national forests.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Jan. 17 that an additional 64 miles of trails have opened in the Grandfather Ranger District, which encompasses 192,000 acres east of Asheville. Including the previously opened 85 miles of trail, this marks a reopening of about half of the district's trails, the news release said.

Helene caused "moderate to catastrophic" damage to more than 187,000 acres of national forest land, according to a report from the Forest Service. The number represents roughly 20% of total forest acreage. An additional 117,000 acres of vegetation loss in the forests was also recorded by the service.

Weeks after the storm, the U.S. Forest Service announced that damage to the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests totaled around $44 million in lost vegetation and land damage.

In November, Forest Supervisor for North Carolina National Forests James Melonas said that recovering and returning to normal after Helene will take years.

Part of the damage fell on the Catawba Falls Trail, which reopened after a two-year closure in June 2024 with 580 hand-built stairs and 2.3 miles of new trail. The base of the upper falls featured major improvements, including a viewing platform and a new Wildflower Trail.

The platform and other improvements to the upper falls were "destroyed by the high waters" and remain closed after Helene. However, the entire Catawba Falls loop trail is now open. Portions of the loop sustained serious damage, but the stair and tower structure were unharmed. Additional repairs will continue at the site through the spring and summer months.

Though the trails have opened, park rangers urge caution due to storm-related hazards, such as fallen debris or unstable conditions, plus icy, wet and cold conditions.

“On top of the issues caused by Helene, it’s important to plan ahead and be vigilant when hiking, as wet, cold, and slippery conditions can make trails and roads more difficult that they normally would be,” Nick Larson, a park ranger in the district, said in the release.

Rangers ask any visitors to exercise extra care as they explore these areas and follow all posted signage and closures.

List of opened trails

In the Old Fort area:

In the Linville area:

In the Morganton area:

In the Wilson Creek area:

For an interactive map and the full list of trails currently open on the Grandfather Ranger District visit: www.g5trailcollective.org/helene

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Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober