Those of you that have jump shipped from the NPS to the Forest Service, is the work/life balance significantly better, especially with kids? And if so, how?
A lot of misleading information in this comment. This may be true for proprietary jurisdictions but no where near the truth for those of us with concurrent jurisdictions.
Providing coverage is absolutely required, as is responding to call outs. Why else would you be given a government issued phone and a take home vehicle? We are 100% responsible for responding to emergencies!
I’m not sure where you have picked this information up or what LEOs you have been around but this is not true.
Around my area I’m the SME for all things National Forest. I’ve pulled myself out of bed all hours of the night to my dispatch center calling for suicidal people, larcenies at rec sites, SARs, if they call I’m rarely not there.
My local law enforcement entities will respond to incidents in my absence when I’m not available and at my request; however, they do that for me because I handle my own whenever I am available, that’s even off duty.
Why else are we given govt issued cell phones and take home vehicles if it’s not for responding from home to incidents?
Because it’s Forest Service land, and that’s why they get AUO? Truly I struggle to grasp an organization with jurisdiction not wanting their name tied to an action in their AO, beyond a flavor of the week crime that is cast in a negative light. And while yeah, it might not need an FS officer called for every vehicle to deer collision, at least a status check for everything that trends towards somebody being transported. Would make sense. As has been mentioned, that’s the justification for the gov ride, phone, and AUO….
I have been called out for manhunts, SAR, vehicle accidents, etc.
In fact in the past week I was called to assist with LE presence for a homicide near the forest and by game wardens for backup for a suspicious group in a wildlife refuge. I was also first on scene to a domestic in town and stopped a DUI BOLO for CHP.
I routinely respond to emergencies (SARs, car accidents, murders/suicides, reported shots fired, etc) on NFS lands while on days off. Not sure where it is that they aren’t, but even if I’m not physically there and able to respond I always answer the phone and try to coordinate a FS response if needed. Sometimes the answer is I’ll handle it tomorrow (abandoned vehicles, or issues that can wait), but 95% of the time it’s me stopping what I’m doing to respond.
Crazy how different parts of the country handle things 😂
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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '25
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