Fired Federal Workers Explain Risks To National Parks And Forests

For the past seven years, Jaelle Downs cleaned up messes. As a forestry technician and wilderness ranger for Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state, Downs picked up trash that campers left behind and buried human waste. Downs camped alongside visitors and taught them “Leave No Trace” principles to minimize human impact on ecosystems. She also was a first responder for visitors experiencing medical episodes.

“We’re not just there to tell people what to do. We’re also there to assist them,” Downs said.

But now, Downs’ job is one of an estimated 3,400 terminated Forest Service positions. She will not be there if someone needs help.

Last month, the Trump Administration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mass-fired many National Park Service employees and U.S. Forest Service staff. In its push to slash the federal workforce, the Trump administration claims these firings were necessary to curb unnecessary government spending.

The cuts targeted newly-hired and promoted workers who were in probationary periods. Termination letters like the one Downs received stated that workers were underperforming and “no longer in the public interest.”

But their performance reviews said otherwise. In 2024, Downs’ direct supervisor gave her a glowing evaluation that highlighted her excellent motivation and initiative in the summer season amidst “severe understaffing,” according to the document reviewed by HuffPost.

Downs and many other national parks and forest service workers lost dream jobs they had worked years to get.

And visitors or fans of national parks and preserves could also lose once the spring and summer months begin, as well. A lack of workers and resources can lead to a devastating ripple effect for travelers, according to employees.

“I don’t think people are going to enjoy what they find without us cleaning up so many messes,” Downs said.

HuffPost asked laid off national park service and forest service workers to share their worries about what could happen next:

As one of her jobs, Downs identified potential tree hazards in parking lots and trailheads, and removed large rocks and logs off the trail to keep them safe and passable for visitors. In one incident, she was the one to spot and monitor a lightning-strike tree fire until more help arrived.

“Without us out there, I’m really concerned that people are going to have a lot more trouble getting out to these spaces,” Downs said. “I worry about a lot more injuries happening, and then it’s going to be even harder for search and rescue to get up the trail.”

Downs was one of nine employees terminated from the Cle Elum Ranger district where she worked. The firings also included other wilderness rangers, trail crew members, recreation employees, botany and timber technicians, Downs said, noting that, by her count, there is only one staffer left to do trail work for her office.

“It’s pretty scary to think that there’s going to be no one out in the woods this summer working and doing all these jobs that really need to get done,” she said.

Without workers like Downs, “People will still be there, but the facilities won’t be there, which is going to just encourage a lot more poor behavior,” like dumping trash and human waste on the ground next to locked bathrooms, Downs warned. And trash in parks is not just unsightly ― it’s a public health hazard.

“Having human waste overflowing and then washing into the lakes and rivers is super concerning,” Downs said. “It’s definitely a health concern for wildlife and people.”

In response to HuffPost questions about visitors’ experiences becoming less safe and overall worse due to these firings, the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement to HuffPost that it “remains committed to ensuring public health and safety while balancing access to recreation services and public access, which is vital to local economies. It is our intent to maintain access to recreation opportunities to the greatest degree possible.”

The agency said it will ensure firefighters “have the training, tools, and resources they need to work alongside our state and local partners, as well as private landowners, to continue the work to protect lives and livelihoods.”

When HuffPost asked how the firings would impact visitors, the National Parks Service said in a statement that it “is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”

But fired federal workers said volunteers and seasonal staff are not replacements for permanent staff who hold deep institutional knowledge and unique subject matter expertise like theirs.

As a logistics management specialist for Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, Eileen Kramer was in charge of “answering the phones and the radios and making sure people have what they need” to be in the backcountry of Alaska, she said. When she and four other NPS workers were let go at Lake Clark due to the cuts, the firings represented half of on-site staff in Port Alsworth.

And in a park that is more than 4 million acres and located in a remote area with no grocery stores, every staff member matters. Kramer said the cuts at her park included a 20-year veteran facility manager at the park who Kramer says was in charge of fixing all the boats and vehicles. “He knew how everything worked and how to fix it. And so now people are like, ‘What do we do when something breaks?’”

People “just don’t realize how few resources there are out here. And when you take away this huge chunk of experience and local knowledge, it has rippling effects,” Kramer said. “Our team has been significantly reduced.“

Despite being fired as part of sweeping cuts by DOGE, Kramer had recently won a regional award from the Department of the Interior for excellence in efficiency. “The job I’m doing isn’t some crazy cushy government gig. Like, I’m out here in the wilderness,” Kramer said.

Kramer was responsible for training seasonal staff on working satellite phones, driving boats, encountering bears, and other safety and survival skills necessary for thriving in off-grid Alaska. Kramer is concerned what could happen without people like her to train park rangers and college-aged seasonal staff stationed in the park.

“If they’re not trained well, how are they going to help the visitors when something comes up?” she said.

Kramer said that firings like hers may result in reduced emergency responses and shorter open hours at visitor centers. “If you’re planning to come to Lake Clark, you should call, make sure [the park is] going to be open and talk to someone about trip planning, because those sorts of resources might not be available when you arrive,” Kramer suggested.

As the only visual information specialist for Homestead National Historic Park, Fort Scott National Historic Site and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Robert Hartwig brought the stories within these Nebraska and Kansas sites to life.

A visual informational specialist’s work on websites, social media and in outdoor exhibits is often how visitors will first interact with these historic landmarks.

Beyond fixing “decades” of grammar errors on web pages, Hartwig added closed captions and alt text on informational videos and images, and voiced his parks’ audio guides so that low-sighted people and children could make meaningful connections to the landscapes in front of them.

Hartwig’s job is to help explain to visitors why these sites deserve federal recognition. Homestead National Historic Park, for example, commemorates the Homestead Act, which allowed any qualified person to claim up to 160 acres of land ― including approximately 3,500 Black Americans who successfully claimed ownership of prairie lands after the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

Hartwig was in the final stages of prepping a yearslong project that mapped Oklahoma Black homesteaders when he was abruptly fired from the National Park Service for failing to “demonstrate fitness for continued employment” ― despite receiving a staff award for his performance in 2024, according to documentation HuffPost reviewed.

“A project like [the Black homesteaders’], when it comes to fruition, allows for history to be told,” Hartwig said, noting that “getting engagement on a larger scale, with a more diverse and older audience as well is extremely beneficial to park, extremely beneficial to the people that are able to get something out of that as well.”

As a biological science technician and lead fisheries diver, Kenan Chan monitored the health of marine ecology at the Channel Islands National Park in California, a park that is home to more than 2,000 plants and animal species.

Chan is one of the thousands of permanent employees who had developed years of unique scientific expertise on the park he served. Like other probationary employees fired in February, Chan’s termination letter stated that he had “failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because of your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities.” But Chan, who received high-scoring performance reviews, said his expertise is critical.

“Without us, that’s a lot of knowledge that just went out the door,” Chan said about the loss of permanent National Park Service staff like him.

Take the island fox, which can be found nowhere else in the world than on the Channel Islands. “Now, when you visit these islands, you’ll likely see these small, cute foxes running around,” Chan said. But before biologists and conservationists brought the fox back through breeding programs and habitat restoration, the species was on the brink of extinction. It’s an example of the positive impact that park scientists have, Chan said.

Through his job, Chan tracked data on almost 100 different kinds of algae, invertebrates and fish. His work helped inform public safety for humans, too. At one point, Chan collected samples on the toxin levels in harvested recreational and commercial lobster to better inform the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and “to help ensure the health of the public,” Chan said.

“It’s easy to go to a park…and see these grand landscapes and these beautiful places, but what makes those beautiful places? Well, in part, the animals and the plants there,” Chan said. “Without the biologists studying and restoring and understanding and protecting these species, the parks aren’t the same.”

Here’s what workers said visitors can do to help offset some of these changes.

Chan said continuing to go to national parks helps to show why they are important. But understand that there may be staffing shortages, so be patient and don’t blame staff, Chan said. “Current staff are doing their absolute best given their current resources.”

Can’t find a clean or open bathroom or visitor center? Make it known to staff, management, and your elected officials about how staffing shortages are causing a less-than-stellar experience for you at the park, Chan said.

Kramer suggested contacting your state legislators and your representatives: “Tell them, ‘This is going to impact my experience in the parks, and this isn’t right.’”

There are growing grassroots protest movements, too. Find the one in your area to join. One group of fired and current NPS workers called “Resistance Rangers,” is organizing March protests across National Parks.

Downs said the public should feel empowered to advocate on behalf of their environment.

“Public lands belong to all of us,” Downs said. “There’s this tendency for people to be like, ‘Oh, it’s the Forest Service land.’ And it’s like, ‘No, it’s actually your land.’ [The Forest Service] just take[s] care of it.”