Virginia’s U.S. senators are raising concerns about the federal money approved for Hurricane Helene repairs, including $660 million for repairs to the ravaged Virginia Creeper Trail.
Meanwhile, some U.S. Forest Service employees who have been cleaning up other damaged trails and campgrounds in the region were recently fired as part of a mass purge of federal employees by the Trump administration.
Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said Thursday that the money is “not flowing.”
“I am very worried that this money is either part of on-off freeze or just a completely screwed up bureaucracy that has now eliminated people and can’t do its job,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump’s sweeping freeze of federal aid. Warner made the remarks during a conference call with media from across the state.
He noted the Creeper Trail’s economic impact on the town of Damascus — where the worst of the damage from the September storm occurred — and the rest of the region, which need the money to recover.
Warner added that Washington County, where the Creeper Trail is located, went strongly for Trump in the last election, and he urged the president’s supporters to ask where the money is. Seventy-six percent of county voters who cast ballots in November voted for Trump.
Sen. Tim Kaine, also a Democrat, said during a call with reporters Thursday that he has no evidence that the money has been frozen, but “we’re going to stay on it until all the dollars are released.” He added that the president’s mass layoff of Federal Emergency Management Agency employees is not going to help.
On Thursday, Warner and Kaine joined the two Republican senators from North Carolina, Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, in sending a letter to federal officials asking that they quickly allocate the money approved in December as part of the American Relief Act of 2025. It included money to address damage from Helene to public lands and attractions in both states, including the Creeper Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail.
The letter went to Brooke Rollins, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Doug Burgum, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The inland effects of Helene caused flooding and high winds that devastated Damascus and other parts of the region, especially the Creeper Trail, which is a 34-mile rail-to-recreation trail. The first half of the trail between Abingdon and Damascus sustained minor damage and reopened days after the storm. But much of the trail between Damascus and Whitetop, including the segment through the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, was washed away and remains closed. More than half of its 32 trestles were destroyed.
The damage to Damascus and the Creeper Trail drew attention from local, state and federal elected officials, with visits to the area by Gov. Glenn Youngkin; U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem; and state legislators. Vice President JD Vance made two trips to Damascus, one in early October before the election, and the second exactly one week after he and Trump took office.
Both times, Vance said there had been a slow federal response to the disaster. On Jan. 27, he said that $4 billion in federal disaster aid had been earmarked for Virginia, but only $47 million had been made available to date. The administration needed to figure out what was causing delays, he added.
He pointed to the Creeper Trail’s economic importance to Damascus and said that rebuilding the damaged trail sections has been too slow.
When asked Thursday about the status of the recovery money, Griffith said: “I don’t anticipate there will be any unusual delays with the allocation of Hurricane Helene relief funds to Southwest Virginia. I take the Trump Administration at their word when Vice President Vance visited Damascus in January.”
Damascus Town Manager Chris Bell said Thursday that he’s not sure what is happening with the money, which he noted is for Helene repairs across the region. He said he is focused on the section of the trail between Abingdon and Damascus that is owned by the towns and is in good shape and open.
He did note that the money is important to the repair of the trail, which he said is the town’s “crown jewel.” Most of the nearly 800 people who live in the Washington County town make their living in connection to the trail, from bike shuttle services to restaurants and bed and breakfasts.
Bell said the town is focusing on its popular festival, Trail Days, in May, and pointed out that the Appalachian Trail also runs through town. New events are also being planned to draw tourists, including a trout tournament and an adventure bike ride.
Forest Service employees fired in Marion
Meanwhile, about 2,000 employees of the U.S. Forest Service, particularly those with less than a year on the job, have been recently fired.
One of them was Lucas Morris, 25, of Marion, a forestry technician with the recreation department in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. He said he received a call telling him he was fired on Monday, a little more than a week before his one-year anniversary.
That was followed by an email with the paperwork, which he said listed the reason for his termination as poor performance, which is in line with the reason that has been given to many fired federal workers, according to multiple media reports. Morris, who was a seasonal worker for four years, said he was never informed of a single performance issue during his time with the service.
Morris said the position was his dream job, and he spoke about his love of the outdoors and the many recreational opportunities this region provides, from national forests to lakes and rivers.
According to Morris, five employees at the Marion office were fired, two seasonal workers and three permanent employees who were still in their probationary period.
He said the fired workers probably would have been involved with repairs to the Creeper Trail, but he didn’t know to what extent. They also would have maintained the trail once it was refurbished.
Recently, he and the other workers who lost their jobs had been working to repair other recreational assets damaged by Helene, including walking trails and campgrounds. He added that only two technicians remain in the Marion area to handle the load.
“I really like to think that the locals love to hike and hunt and fish on their public lands,” Morris said. “I think the most important message to get across is … it’s going to affect their access and opportunity to do the things they love to do.”
Questions to the Forest Service’s Marion office about local firings were referred to the area ranger, who in turn referred questions to Gwen Mason, a public affairs officer for the Forest Service based in Roanoke. She referred the inquiry to a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson in Washington, D.C., who said Rollins, the USDA secretary, supports the president’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies and be good stewards of taxpayer money.
“As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. … Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] funding. It’s unfortunate that the Biden administration hired thousands of people with no plan in place to pay them long term. Secretary Rollins is committed to preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted.”
Specific questions about the number of local and state firings weren’t answered.
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Clarification 10:15 p.m. Feb. 21: Comments by Lucas Morris about the scope of work conducted by fired Forest Service employees have been clarified.
