A U.S. Forest Service fire danger sign north along the highway just north of Seward is seen as light rain was falling on Sunday, June 25. The sign says fire danger in the region, dominated by the Chugach National Forest, is moderate. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
A President’s Day weekend swept by fear and grief from the sudden termination of thousands of federal employees in the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Interior left chaos and uncertainty after the latest assault on the federal workforce by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
For people on the ground in mountain communities, small towns and rural areas, the cuts were nothing short of devastating. They came with no explanation, warning or discernment, and the impact on public land and wildlife, observers say, will be felt for years.
“It’s pretty hard to fathom,” said Claire Thompson, 35, a trail leader who was fired Friday afternoon after eight years with the U.S. Forest Service. “It feels like they’re punishing the people who least deserve it. We have chosen to stay in careers working for so little money. We are literally the boots on the ground, physically working all day.”
Jobs cut included park rangers and interpreters, National Environmental Policy Act coordinators, endangered species biologists, trail crews, maintenance staff and wastewater treatment operators.
It feels like they’re punishing the people who least deserve it.
– Claire Thompson, a trail leader who was fired from the U.S. Forest Service.
Thompson and her partner, who was also fired on Friday, were co-leaders of the Wenatchee River Ranger District’s trail crew east of Seattle, Washington. They and their crew spent six months of each year clearing downed trees from hundreds of miles of trails, helping fight wildfires, coordinating volunteer efforts, and assisting with wildfire prevention work, among many other jobs. The Forest Service also fired the team’s mule packer who brought supplies into the wilderness for trail work, a front-country ranger, an office staff member, the rest of the trail crew and all but one of a team of wilderness rangers, according to Thompson.
Official counts of everyone fired across the country are still hazy, as many were still receiving termination emails over the holiday weekend, but early numbers show at least 3,400 people were fired from the Forest Service and about 2,300 people from the Department of Interior, the agency that oversees the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Most of the employees were “probationary,” which meant they had been in their current positions for less than one year. While some were new employees of their agencies, many others, like Thompson and her trail crew, worked for the federal government for years but had recently been promoted to new positions.
“This is super specialized work, and a lot of it is because of the remote nature of it,” Thompson said. “We’re experienced veteran employees. It’s not something you can hire a random contractor to do.”
A Western biologist who agreed to speak with High Country News on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retribution, said they made more money in the private sector but saw a dream job in the position as a biologist working with fisheries and riparian ecosystems at the Interior Department.
The biologist worked seasonal gigs in the federal government for 12 years before leaving for the private sector and returning to Interior in a permanent role last summer.
These are dedicated career employees who have worked through several administrations. I worked through the first Trump administration. We’re not partisan.
They understand agencies reorganize and cut staff when administrations change, but the biologist said these mass firings were indiscriminate — not targeted or thoughtful reductions.
“These are dedicated career employees who have worked through several administrations. I worked through the first Trump administration. We’re not partisan,” they said. “We just put our heads down and do our work.”
And adding insult to injury, everyone HCN talked with received the same email stating that they were being fired for performance issues. The email from Forest Service Human Resources Director Deedra Fogle read, “You have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.” But each person HCN spoke with who was fired also stated their annual reviews were all positive, and some hope to work with unions and attorneys to challenge the terminations.
President Donald Trump repeatedly distanced himself from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 while on the campaign trail, but efforts to slash agencies like the BLM are straight from its playbook. Cuts to recreation employees, however, seem contrary to portions of Trump’s first term when he signed the Great American Outdoors Act that increased support and funding for public lands including deferred maintenance in national parks.
The White House announced the “workforce optimization initiative” on February 11 as part of an executive order to be more efficient and save money. But the jobs they cut, Thompson said, aren’t going to save them much. Thompson, never made more than $22 an hour.
In fact, the Park Service alone contributes $55.6 billion to the national economy but spends only one-fifteenth of 1% of the federal budget, said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of the National Parks Conservation Association. And as people gear up for spring break and summers spent outside, they may well find shuttered and understaffed visitor centers, closed campgrounds, overflowing toilets and impassable trails, she said.
Kate White co-lead the wilderness program on the Wenatchee River Ranger District in Washington. The group maintained 30 backcountry toilets and packed out 1,000 piles of improperly disposed human waste each season in the Enchantment Special Use Permit Area in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, one of the busiest and most fragile areas in the state. They also carried out hundreds of pounds of garbage on their backs, educated visitors, helped with search and rescue, and assisted in wildland firefighting.
The cuts expanded beyond trail crews, rangers and biologists.
Cody Anderson was the NEPA coordinator and wilderness manager in the Wrangell Ranger District in the Tongass National Forest. He made sure projects followed the law and could get done. He said he worked seasonal jobs with the BLM with “above satisfactory” reviews before landing a permanent job with the Forest Service seven months ago. He was fired Thursday along with six other Forest Service employees in the 2,000-person town of Wrangell, Alaska.
“I’m suffering, and I have a bunch of friends who are suffering,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s these wilderness areas that will suffer as well.”
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This article first appeared on High Country News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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