Sam Forstag, former smoke jumper and Forest Service union leader running for Montana’s First District, argues that federal workforce cuts that dismissed 360 Montana Forest Service employees have stripped out the institutional knowledge needed to manage wildfires safely. Forstag describes a fire he jumped near Fairbanks, Alaska, that he says grew from 30 acres to 60,000 acres in a single day after the wind shifted and air support was lost, an experience he credits with pushing him into the race. He points to the Windy Rock fire near Helmville, which he says cost Montana $56 million, and to a Bitterroot National Forest with one trail crew member, as evidence that emergency response spending replaces the fuels and trail work that could prevent such fires.. Forstag proposes expanding prescribed fire through the Prescribed Fire Act, increasing fuels reduction crews, and securing a seat on the House Natural Resources Committee to rebuild agencies he says were not perfect before the cuts but were gutted anyway. With the general election in early November, Forstag frames the race as a choice between rebuilding public lands management and continued privatization; the hosts cite a University of Montana survey finding over 80% of Montanans support a ban on selling or transferring public lands.

A note on this conversation: Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds live in Montana’s First District, where Sam Forstag is a candidate in the November 3, 2026 general election. The Wild Idea invited Forstag to talk about public lands policy and his experience in wildland fire and the Forest Service. This episode is not an endorsement of any candidate.

The personal and professional costs of wildland firefighting

Sam Forstag, former smoke jumper and Forest Service union leader, is running for Montana’s First District, a race where public lands are a central issue. Forstag worked multiple seasons on the fire line, including time as a smoke jumper, before organizing his union local through the federal workforce cuts that dismissed hundreds of employees across the state. His campaign leads with defending public lands from privatization and rebuilding the fire agencies that manage them. He says 85% of the 360 Montanans fired in the Forest Service’s first round of cuts made $19.70 an hour or less, and that the cuts missed the inefficiencies that actually slow the agency down.

The conversation covers the personal and professional costs of wildland firefighting, including Forstag’s experience logging more than a thousand hours of overtime across three seasons to keep his mortgage current, and a near-death fire he jumped near Fairbanks that he says grew from 30 acres to 60,000 acres in a day after losing air support, with a dispatcher who had three weeks of experience. Forstag points to the Windy Rock fire near Helmville, which he says cost Montana $56 million, as a case study in why emergency response spending replaces the fuels crews and trail maintenance that could prevent such fires. He discusses Senator Tim Sheehy’s proposal to separate wildland firefighting from the Forest Service, which Forstag argues would divorce land management from fire suppression and push the agency further into crisis response mode. As an example of what the cuts left behind, he says the Bitterroot National Forest ended last summer with a single trail crew member. He also argues that fire, long suppressed, is a healthy part of the landscape, and points to Native cultural burning as a model. He also outlines his priorities if elected, including a seat on the House Natural Resources Committee and expanded prescribed fire through the Prescribed Fire Act. He describes running a campaign with five former Republican legislators and a former Republican governor endorsing him, and holding “civil discourse” town halls with Republicans such as Greg Frazer and Marc Racicot.

The episode lands in a moment when, as Anders notes, the 2024 Montana GOP platform called for relinquishing federally managed lands to the states, a position the hosts say Forstag’s opponent, Aaron Flint, has aligned himself with. The hosts cite a University of Montana survey showing broad voter opposition to selling public lands, and Forstag frames the race as a referendum on whether voters will prioritize people who know the ground or corporate executives profiting from the federal fire budget. Bill, who helped develop the River Runs Through It Act, asks how Forstag would build collaboration across party lines; Forstag points to the bill, which his opponent’s party colleague Ryan Zinke recently sponsored, and to the Republican endorsers and town halls in his own campaign. The conversation also touches on data centers proposed for public lands and the outside money flowing into the race. He closes with a quote he attributes to Harry Truman, that it is amazing how much can get done when nobody cares who gets the credit, and says he is not there for credit or glory but to get something done.

In this episode:

• Adrenaline: Campaign vs. Fire Line: Forstag compares the second debate of the election to jumping into a tight spot in tall timber, where you breathe slow until the moment you open up and the adrenaline dump hits.
• Land Ethic From the Crosscut Saw: Forstag says his land ethic and political ethic came from doing the work outside, not studying it, and he contrasts that with leaders at the highest levels who do not know how fire and forestry function on the ground.
• The Cost of Overtime: Forstag logged more than a thousand hours of overtime in three separate seasons just to keep his mortgage current, and he describes the isolation and personal toll that structure imposes on wildland firefighters.
• Fairbanks: The Alaska Fire: Forstag describes a 30-acre fire in Alaska that grew to 60,000 acres by evening after other fires pulled away air support and the wind shifted. He says the dispatcher coordinating the response had been on the job three weeks, and he uses it to argue that cutting experienced fire staff makes fires burn bigger and firefighters less safe.
•  Union Organizing Through the Cuts: Forstag organized his union local after members were fired, including a woman in the Bitterroot dismissed during chemotherapy and a man in Ennis who learned of his termination at his grandmother’s funeral, and he ran for office after his repeated attempts to reach Ryan Zinke went unanswered.
• Who the Cuts Hit: Forstag says 85% of the 360 Montanans fired in the Forest Service’s first round of cuts made $19.70 an hour or less, mostly people “swinging the tools.” He argues the real inefficiencies in government are in the processes, such as nine-month federal hiring timelines and workers’ comp, and that the people who keep those processes moving were the ones cut.
• Rebuilding Fire and Fuels Crews: Forstag proposes expanding prescribed fire through the Prescribed Fire Act, increasing fuels reduction crews, and seeking a seat on the House Natural Resources Committee to rebuild agencies he says were imperfect before the cuts but were gutted anyway.
•  One Trail Crew Member for a Whole Forest: Forstag says the Bitterroot National Forest ended last summer with one trail crew member. He says forest leadership told his union local the plan was to clear a third of typical trail miles using firefighters, and that pulling fire out of the Forest Service leaves no plan at all.
• Fire as a Healthy Process: Forstag argues that fire is a healthy part of the landscape that has been suppressed for about a century, and he points to Native cultural burning practices as a model for reintroducing low-level burns safely.
•  A Bipartisan Bill on the Table: Forstag praises the River Runs Through It Act, which he says Ryan Zinke finally sponsored last month after decades of work by others. He wants to work on it with Troy Downing in Eastern Montana and calls it a model for collaborative land management that doesn’t have to be partisan. Bill, who worked on the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal and the Blackfoot Clearwater Act, now part of the same bill, shares a story of collaboration among motorized recreationists, wilderness advocates, ranchers, and timber interests.

Links & Resources

Places & Landscapes:

• Custer Gallatin National Forest — National Forest that passed a unionization vote two to one under Sam Forstag’s union leadership.
• Bitterroot National Forest — National Forest where trail crew staffing was discussed.

People Mentioned:

• Lee Metcalf — Montana Senator who helped write the Wilderness Act.
• Norman Maclean — Author of Young Men and Fire, which discusses the Mann Gulch fire near Helena.
• Aldo Leopold — Author of Sand County Almanac, referenced for his land ethic and the chapter Good Oak.
• Aaron Flint — Sam Forstag’s opponent in the Montana 1st Congressional District race.
• Tim Sheehy —  Senator and former corporate firefighting executive, mentioned regarding contracting and the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
• Elon Musk — mentioned in connection with the DOGE workforce cuts.
• Marc Racicot — Former Republican Governor and endorser; a town hall is planned in Libby.
• Greg Frazer — Former Republican legislator and union leader endorsing Sam Forstag.
• Troy Downing — Representative from Eastern Montana, mentioned regarding the River Runs Through It Act.

Sam Forstag is a smokejumper and union leader, running to make sure working people have a voice in Congress. He was raised by a mom who picked up extra nursing shifts and a dad who became a public school teacher, and both made just enough to get by. Sam spent years working across western Montana as a wildland firefighter and organizing and advocating for public education, libraries, healthcare and constitutional freedoms between fire seasons. When DOGE came after public servants and public lands, Sam fought back. Now, he’s ready to do that in Congress.

Connect with Sam on Instagram and at his website. 

This episode of The Wild Idea is sponsored by The Wilderness Society. 

Learn more about opportunities to sponsor The Wild Idea.

Follow along for updates, upcoming conversations, and live events, and share this episode with someone who cares about wild places, working lands, and the future of our food system. You can also support the show through our Buy Me a Coffee page. 

Subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast player, and be sure to follow us on social media, too: we’re on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

We also send out a weekly newsletter with updates on our show: sign up for that list right here.