Colorado Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse have written a letter to the interim director of the U.S. General Services Administration questioning the proposed termination of nearly 20 federal leases in the state.
Especially worrisome, the three Democrats said in their joint letter, was the reduced wildfire protection that could result from the closure of U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service offices in Fort Collins, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife office in Grand Junction and a Bureau of Reclamation office in Durango.
“As federal agencies, states and local communities work to prepare for heightened wildfire and drought risk during the warmer summer months ahead, we are extremely concerned about the risk that the closure of the USFS or Department of Interior (DOI) facilities in Colorado could result in a decrease of our state’s wildfire preparedness, ability to respond to drought conditions, and react to other threats to public safety,” the three wrote acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian on Monday.
Those four offices are among 19 lease terminations covering 350,000 square feet proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency in late February and early March.
The three highlighted the Supervisor’s Office for the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest in Fort Collins, which serves as a base for dispatch and incident command in those forests, two out of 12 federal forests located in the state.
The three wanted to know if and when the offices will be closed and what will happen to the employees working there — are their jobs being terminated or will they be moved to another facility?
The office closures also seem to conflict with a presidential order requiring all remote federal workers to return to the office, which would, on the surface, seem to require more space, not less.
Initially, the DOGE list cited termination via mass modification as the status of most of the leases. A few of them have since changed with a description of “soft” termination or “true” termination as in the case of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office in Grand Junction.
The letter also expressed concerns that staffing cuts at the GSA, which serves as the federal government’s landlord and leasing manager, could mean that the proposed terminations were not done with the proper oversight and coordination with the agencies involved.
The three also requested to be notified in advance and briefed in person on any federal leased office closures or federal property sales within the state.
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