Our Local 251 represents nearly 500 nonsupervisory field and office workers in the Forest Service Alaska Regional Office, the Tongass National Forest, and the Chugach National Forest. We are a democratic union, organized under the Forest Service Council. The Forest Service Council has representation and democratically elected leadership from every Forest Service Region. Our Forest Service Council is organized under the National Federation of Federal Employees; which is affiliated with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. For more on our union organization, see “Allies” on this website.
Our Local 251 will do all we can to defend Forest Service workers in the Alaska Region; in partnership with our Forest Service Council, NFFE, IAM, AFL-CIO, and the larger Labor movement. Our strength is in our numbers, both in the funding dues provides for lawyers, lobbyists and training, and in the numbers of dues-paying members that management sees when we’re at the bargaining table. If you would like to add to our strength, see “Join Us” on this website.
Our dues-paying Local 251 members include administrative support assistants, aircraft dispatchers, archeologists, biologists, botanists, budget analysts, civil engineers, customer service representatives, data services specialists, engineering and forestry technicians, firefighters, geologists, hydrologists, maintenance workers, natural resource specialists, park rangers, partnership coordinators, public affairs specialists, realty specialists, silviculturists and other occupations. We have workers spread throughout communities in Alaska including Anchorage, Cordova, Craig, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Gustavus, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Moose Pass, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell and Yakutat.
The Forest Service manages 193 million acres of land, roughly the size of Texas, and is divided into 10 Regions, with our Alaska Region (aka “Region 10”) having the most National Forest land at 21.9 million acres. Our Alaska Region stewards the rugged, mountainous coast of the northeast Pacific Ocean for the sustained yield of multiple uses. Our Region’s labyrinth of fjords, islands, streams, and mountains support a wide array public benefits.
There are two National Forests in the Alaska Region, the Tongass National Forest and the Chugach National Forest. At 16.6 million acres, the Tongass is the largest National Forest by far; the next largest is the Humboldt–Toiyabe at 6.3 million acres. Not only is the Tongass approaching 3 times the size of the next largest National Forest, it also covers the remote islands of southeast Alaska, often requiring our workers to travel over vast distances by float plane or boat. Our Region’s Chugach National Forest is the third largest National Forest at 5.4 million acres.
