Millions of federal dollars dedicated in part to wildfire response training and equipment at 25 Job Corps sites nationwide — including one in White Swan — were frozen last month pending potential operations changes, according to a regional American Federation of Government Employees official.
Tuesday morning, the U.S. Forestry Service funds were released, as pushback from various members of Congress created uncertainty over the changes, Walt Johnston, AFGE's vice president in Washington and Utah, told the Yakima Herald-Republic.
"The impact of this (government) announcement was immediate in ceasing certain operations, but our response was proactive and it was loud, and I think that's why everything is being rethought out at this time," said Johnston, referring to the government's initial proposal of changes to Job Corps. "We feel that this is a crack in the dike, and we just need to open up the floodgates (of public pushback)," he added.