El Capitan in Yosemite National Park
Sierra Sun Times file photo

Related: Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Announces Federal Court Finds Firing of Probationary Federal Employees Illegal - Judge Alsup Calls Probationary Federal Employees “The Lifeblood of Our Government”

March 1, 2025 - The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks released the following letter on Friday:

February 28, 2025

United States Senators and Representatives,

On behalf of our members, supporters, and volunteer stewards, we write with significant concerns regarding the recent mass firing of federal employees still within their probationary periods, particularly those individuals who had been employed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), USDA Forest Service (USFS) and the National Park Service (NPS). These firings are unprecedented (approximately 5,700 employees as of now) and made without regard to the agencies’ ability to carry out their mandates as required by law or the impacts on the management of our public lands. This loss of staff will have devastating effects on the protection and management of these lands and cause economic hardship to the communities that surround them. We urge Congress to immediately reverse these terminations and halt any further workforce reductions to our public land management agencies.

Our nation’s public lands are treasures to be stewarded by our land management agencies according to the missions for which Congress created them and the mandates dictated to them by law. It is these agencies whose employees are responsible for protecting these national treasures. These employees are educators, engineers, recreation specialists, permit processors, maintenance staff, campground hosts, front-facing park and forest rangers, wildlife biologists, backcountry safety patrollers, wildland firefighters, trail construction leaders, and all other kinds of professionals driven to serve their country with their expertise. With a steady decrease in staffing over the last decade, they are often overworked, underappreciated, and underpaid. Without them, however, the natural and cultural resources that belong to all Americans cannot be stewarded. They are vital to the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation economy, which is an engine of economic development for American communities throughout our nation.

These indiscriminate workforce reductions were made on the basis of abstract targets to reduce the federal workforce. The type or importance of the positions and reliance of Americans on their work were not considered. Critical positions such as maintenance, public health, human resources, and education positions have been terminated throughout the country.

Neither was the human factor of these citizens considered. Some who have trained for years to develop the expertise to serve their country, or were recently promoted in recognition of their service, were let go. Others who uprooted lives, moved across the country, and have exhausted their savings simply because they were called to serve the public were let go. Even high-level position holders, with long histories at one agency who simply transferred to another agency or earned a promotion, were also let go as they were technically still on probation. These neighbors, colleagues, and community members pay taxes, buy groceries and are vital contributors to their local economies, where the loss of their jobs will cause real hardship.

We urge Congress to immediately reverse these terminations and halt any further
workforce reductions.

Sincerely,

350.org 365 Degree Total Marketing Ala Kahakai Trail Association Alamosa Riverkeeper Alaska Clean Water Advocacy Alaska Community Action on Toxics Alaska Institute for Justice Alaska Soles, Great Old Broads for Wilderness Alaska Trails Alaska Wilderness League Alianza Coachella Valley All About Adventure Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance Alliance for a Better Utah Alta Peak Chapter, California Native Plant Society Amache Preservation Society American Baptist Churches, USA American Bird Conservancy American Discovery Trail Society American Hiking Society American Whitewater Amigos De Los Rios Anacostia Riverkeeper Animal Welfare Institute Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Voices Archaeology Southwest California Mountain Biking Coalition California Native Plant Society California Native Plant Society Mojave Desert Chapter California Native Seed Supply Collaborative Californians for Western Wilderness CalWild Cane River National Heritage Area Carriages of Acadia, Inc. Cascade Backcountry Alliance Cascade Forest Conservancy Cascade Volunteers Center for a Sustainable Coast Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice Center for Large Landscape Conservation Center for Sustainable Communities Central Cascades Winter Recreation Council Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center Central/Eastern Oregon Chapter of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy Chattooga Conservancy Chautauqua-Conewango Consortium, A Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate Cherokee Concerned Citizens Cherokee Forest Voices Chispa Arizona Christians For The Mountains Citizens for a Safe & Clean Lake Superior City of Issaquah Clackamas River Basin Council Clarksburg Visitors Bureau Climate and Wildfire Institute Duncan Development Earth Ethics, Inc. Earthjustice ecoAmerica EcoFlight Edisto Chamber of Commerce Edmonson County Tourist and Convention Commission Enchanted Circle Trails Association Endangered Habitats League Endangered Species Coalition Environmental Law & Policy Center Environmental Protection Information Center Environmental Services International LLC Evergreen Escapes Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance Explore Brookhaven Explore Estill Farm 51 Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology FireGeneration Collaborative Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy's Environmental Coalition Forest Bridges: The O&C Forest Habitat Project Forest Keeper Forest Stewards Guild Forest Unlimited ForeverGreen Trails Four Way Community Foundation Franklin D. Roosevelt Hyde Park Foundation Friends of the Eel River Friends of Acadia Friends of Blackwater, Inc. Friends of Carl Sandburg at Connemara Friends of Women’s Rights National Historical Park Gallatin Wildlife Association Gila Chapter Back Country Horsemen of America Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance Glen Canyon Institute Golden Bricks Events Grand Canyon Trust Grand Staircase Escalante Partners Grant Monument Association Great Basin Resource Watch Great Old Broads for Wilderness Great Salt Lake Waterkeeper Greater Gadsden Area Tourism Greater Yellowstone Coalition Green America Greenbrier River Watershed Assoc. Inc. Groton Ayer Buzz Ground Squirrel Research Ground Work Trails Gunpowder Riverkeeper Hamilton Partnership for Paterson Hampshire County Convention & Visitors Bureau Headwaters Trails Alliance Heather Nold Henderson Tourist Commission High Country Conservation Advocates Hills For Everyone Historic Pullman Foundation Historicorp Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission Humboldt Waterkeeper Idaho Conservation League Idaho Trails Association Idyllwild Forest Health Project Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin Mississippi Park Connection Mississippi Tourism Association Missouri River Bird Observatory Montana Conservation Voters Morehead-Rowan County Tourism Morongo Basin Conservation Association Mother Lode Chapter - Sierra Club Mount Diablo Bird Alliance Mount Rushmore Society Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area MountainTrue MT Organizing Project National Association of Forest Service Retirees National Park Friends Alliance National Park Hospitality Association National Park Partners of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Moccasin Bend National Parks Conservation Association National Parks of Lake Superior Foundation National Religious Coalition on Creation Care National Wildlife Federation National Wildlife Refuge Association Native Organizers Alliance Natural Resources Defense Council Nature for All Nature Forward New Belgium Brewing Company New Insights New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium New Mexico Climate Justice New Mexico Sportsmen New Mexico Wild Patagonia Area Resource Alliance Peace in the Wild Pelecanus Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society Physicians for Social Responsibility PA Pilchuck Audubon Society Pinchot Institute for Conservation Powell County Tourism Commission Prairie Rivers Network Preserve Calavera Prestonsburg Tourism Dr. Linda J. Bilmes, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School Project Eleven Hundred Protect the Kobuk Public Lands Alliance Public Lands Foundation Putnam County Tourism Quiet Use Coalition Rachel Carson Council Rainier BaseCamp Raritan Riverkeeper Red Line Parkway Initiative Redbud Audubon Society Regeneración Releaf Resinate with Ames, LLC Resource Renewal Institute Restore Oregon Rio Grande Indivisible, NM Rising Routes Alliance Riverkeeper Rock Creek Conservancy Inc. Rocky Mountain Conservancy Rocky Mountain Wild Rogue Riverkeeper Roosevelt Campobello International Park Rosedale Neighborhood Association SItka Trail Works Sky Island Alliance Snake River Waterkeeper Snowlands Network Sonoma Land Trust South Coast Tours LLC South San Juan Broadband South Yuba River Citizens League Southeast Alaska Conservation Council Southeast Tourism Society Southern Environmental Law Center Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Southwest Montana Mountain Bike Association Southwest Native Cultures Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association Spokane Parks Foundation Standing Trees Steven Fullerton Susitna River Coalition Sustainable Tucson Sustainable Water Network SWMMBA TeamTLC The Adventure Hub The Arizona Deserts National Parks Partnership The Clinch Coalition The Colorado Mountain Club The Environmental Law Society of Vermont Law & Graduate School The Fund for People in Parks The League to Save Lake Tahoe The Mountaineers The Outer Banks Visitors Bureau The Service Board Voyageurs Conservancy Wasatch Backcountry Alliance Washington Wild Waterkeeper Alliance Waterkeepers Chesapeake WE ACT for Environmental Justice West West Virginia Environmental Council West Virginia Highlands Conservancy West Virginia Rivers Coalition Western Colorado Alliance Western Environmental Law Center Western Resource Advocates Western Slope Conservation Center Western Watersheds Project Wild Cumberland Wild Livelihoods Business Coalition Wild Montana Wild Rivers Conservancy Wilderness Workshop Wildlands Network Wildlife Conservation Society, Arctic Beringia Program Willamette Riverkeeper Willamette Valley Chapter Native Plant Society of Oregon Winter Wildlands Alliance Wolf Creek Community Alliance Women’s institute for Leadership and Learning WV Headwaters Waterkeeper Wyoming Outdoor Council Wyoming Wilderness Association Wyoming Wildlife Advocates Youth Outdoor Experience - Ironwood Tree Experience Youth United for Climate Crisis Action Zero Hour

Source: Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks