Trump targets public parks

The Trump administration has America’s public lands in its crosshairs.

President Trump, acting through the illegal, unsanctioned, and unvetted Department of Government Efficiency, is determined to gut national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges of staff while opening public lands to more oil and gas exploration.

The staff changes promise pain for park visitors this spring and summer when millions of Americans typically hit the roads to visit America’s cathedrals.

Visitors to the national parks can expect closed facilities, overcrowding, excess traffic, dirty restrooms, and other inconveniences detracting from their attempts to enjoy the great outdoors this year as the weather warms.

Other personnel in the Department of the Interior are also being laid off, with thousands of employees in the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management receiving termination notices.

The US Department of Agriculture wasn’t left unscathed, either. USDA manages the nation’s national forests and national grasslands. Job losses are mounting at those public land services, as well.

Pink slips and lies

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) says at least 1,000 positions have been terminated at the National Park Service alone. Thousands of more dedicated public servants have received layoff notices from the other public lands agencies.

The layoff notices come with lies from the administration stating that people are losing their jobs due to poor performance, or because their ongoing employment isn’t in the national interest.

In reality, parks and public land management employees still in their probationary periods are being laid off in mass numbers as a purely cost-cutting measure.

NPS has long been struggling with staff shortages and a huge backlog of billions of dollars’ worth of deferred maintenance projects.

Targeting employees in their probationary periods doesn’t mean that only the most recent hires are affected. Long-time employees in the federal service who’ve recently been promoted are also required to go through a probationary period as they get accustomed to their new roles. Reports say they’ve been let go, as well.

The defenders of America’s public lands warn that the public is in for a rude awakening when they venture outdoors during the summer school break.

“The people in the White House have no idea what it takes or the effect that will play out, particularly with seasonal employees,” said former NPS Deputy Director Deny Galvin in a statement circulated by NPCA. “They are the ones visitors most often see.”

NPCA is expecting a cataclysmic season ahead given the long-lingering staffing and budgetary challenges the National Park Service has faced, now made worse with the arbitrary mass layoffs.

“National parks have been struggling for decades with smaller budgets and fewer staff, while visitation soars and climate change brings new challenges to parks,” NPCA said.

“The new administration has taken steps to reduce the federal workforce, including the National Park Service, through hiring freezes, federal buyouts, rescinded job offers, and other directives,” the nonprofit added. “NPCA believes these reductions would be devastating to our parks.”

Testimonials

Laid-off former federal workers are taking to the internet to both express their disappointment and anxiety, reflect on their work in public service, and announce they are back in the job market seeking opportunities.

Former NPS employee Carrie Schmitt shared her story on LinkedIn. She said she lost her job as a Biological Science Technician at NPS last Friday.

“I’m sad, angry, but most of all disappointed that my dream of being a park ranger is over for the time being,” she told her followers. “I encourage you all to seek out news about these terminations. I would also encourage you to contact your representatives to let them know your concerns.”

Other laid-off federal workers took to social media noting that their pink slips came with notes flat-out lying that they had been let go because they failed their performance reviews, even though the employees weren’t on the payroll long enough to even go through their first employment review.

Trump acknowledges that Elon Musk is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), though the administration has stated otherwise in court filings.

The lies regarding failed performance reviews in the mass layoff notices may indicate DOGE is trying to make it more difficult for these workers to find new jobs, or to avoid class-action lawsuits. One former BLM employee said he was told he lost his job due to a lack of “subject matter expertise.”

Trump is known for his fondness for lying.

The failed 2020 presidential candidate continues to insist that he won that contest when everyone knows he did not. He has repeatedly refused to offer even a shred of evidence showing otherwise because no such proof exists.

Former President Joe Biden handily defeated Trump in November 2020. At the time, Trump’s approval ratings had slid to the lowest for any sitting president in US history due to the public’s dissatisfaction with his mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

Even Republican-friendly media outlets acknowledged Biden’s categorical victory over Trump in 2020.

Molly Ryan told her LinkedIn followers that she and several of her colleagues received similar deceitful notes in their termination notifications. Ryan said she was a former Recreation Planner with the US Forest Service, responsible for creating opportunities for the public to enjoy USDA’s Forest Service lands.

“Despite fully successful performance reviews, we were told that our employment is not ‘in the public interest’,” Ryan shared.

“The 16 months I spent as a civil servant working to promote sustainable recreation for our national forests and national parks were a dream come true,” she added. “I was so fortunate to be surrounded by thoughtful, wonderful people and to be doing meaningful work that I believed in.”

Drill baby drill

NPCA is also raising the alarm over a new federal directive that seems aimed at dramatically expanding oil and gas exploration on public lands.

On February 3, new Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced a 15-day review of fossil fuel extraction on public lands. The order was titled “Unleashing American Energy.”

The oil and gas industry already has opportunities to bid for energy exploration and extraction leases on certain public lands. Activists fear Burgum’s order is intended to begin the process of dismantling environmental protections and other safeguards, like rules in place to prevent oil spills at national monuments and wildlife refuges.

“If we lose these places to oil and gas development, we forfeit a century-old legacy that we will not pass on to our grandchildren,” NPCA CEO Theresa Pierno said in a statement.NPCA fears that several iconic national monuments may be at risk of having oil rigs erected next to scenic backdrops. NPCA’s at-risk list includes Devil’s Tower, Hovenweep, and Dinosaur National Monuments.