Trump's Forest Service cuts have some in the Southwest on edge

The Trump administration's sweeping staffing cuts at federal lands agencies are causing anxiety across the tinder-dry Southwest, where the wildfire threat is already severe.

The administration says wildland firefighters continue to be exempt from a federal hiring freeze, but an untold number of Forest Service staffers who hold “red cards,” meaning they can leave their day jobs to fight fires, were laid off in February.

One of them, in New Mexico, recently got her job back after a court ruling but says Forest Service staff are "walking on egg shells," and all the work that goes into protecting communities and wildlife from wildfires is on hold.