US forest, national park services sack thousands of workers
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Agencies warn that Trump’s latest government cuts could hinder firefighting efforts and lead to crises at national parks.
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Donna Lawlor goes cross-country skiing on the Lodge to Lodge trail between camps at the Appalachian Mountain Club's backcountry wilderness lodge near Greenville, Maine, in December 2012. (AP)
The US Forest Service is laying off around 3,400 recent hires, while the National Park Service is sacking approximately 1,000 workers as part of Donald Trump’s push to reduce federal spending and bureaucracy.
The layoffs target employees in their probationary periods, including those hired less than a year ago, and will impact sites like the Appalachian Trail, Yellowstone, the Martin Luther King Jr. birthplace, and Sequoia National Forest.
These cuts affect 10% of the Forest Service workforce and 5% of the National Park Service employees but exclude firefighters, law enforcement, certain meteorologists, and 5,000 seasonal workers.
Meanwhile, Theresa Pierno, president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), warned, “Staffing cuts of this magnitude will have devastating consequences for parks and communities.”
The NPCA had previously raised concerns that staffing levels were not keeping up with the growing demands on the national park system, which saw 325 million visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million from 2022. Kristen Brengel, NPCA’s senior vice president of government affairs, said visitors could face “overflowing trash, uncleaned bathrooms, and fewer rangers to provide guidance.”
The National Park Service, along with other agencies, was caught off guard by a January order from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget pausing federal grants. The administration reversed this decision two days later and is re-evaluating it.
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Out of the 2.3 million members of the federal civilian workforce, around 280,000 employees were hired in the last two years, most of whom are still on probation and easier to fire. The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, declined to comment on personnel matters but reiterated that protecting communities, infrastructure, businesses, and resources remains “a top priority.”
The department emphasized that “wildland firefighter and other public safety positions are of the utmost priority.”
However, the funding freeze is affecting wildfire prevention programs in the West and halting the hiring of seasonal firefighters. This comes just a month after the Los Angeles wildfires, which are expected to be the costliest in US history.
The Lomakatsi Restoration Project in Oregon reported that its contracts with federal agencies, including the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, to reduce hazardous fuels have been frozen. "The funding freeze has impacted more than 30 separate grants and agreements," said Marko Bey, the project’s executive director.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, stated that funding decisions are under review.
Senate Democrats are urging the administration to release fire mitigation funding and have called for an exemption for seasonal firefighters from the federal hiring freeze.
The Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a group advocating for federal firefighters, noted that agencies have struggled with recruitment and retention, and the freeze "just exacerbates that problem," according to Riva Duncan, the group’s vice president.
