Federal Layoff Plan Targets Ecological and Wildlife Research Workforce

Trouble is brewing for federal wildlife and ecological workers. 

Court filings reveal the Trump administration’s intention to fire 2,050 workers at the Department of Interior. The cuts are on hold for now after a temporary court order. But the threat remains very real.

Most worrying, the planned layoffs would devastate USGS Ecosystems Mission Area – the backbone of ecological research in the United States. 

See our tracker entry: The Dismantling of USGS Ecosystems Mission Area

Congress can stop this. As the shutdown negotiations continue, senators can demand that Congress assert authority over federal workforce reductions – ensuring that no administration can unilaterally carry out mass layoffs of career scientists and conservation staff without Congressional oversight.

According to Interior’s October 20 court filing, the plan would eliminate roughly 28 percent of the Ecosystems Mission Area workforce, with deep cuts at major research centers:

108 layoffs (79% cut) — Great Lakes Science Center

80 layoffs (78% cut) — Columbia Environmental Research Center

56 layoffs (75% cut)  — Climate Adaptation and Science Centers

39 layoffs (57% cut) — Fort Collins Science Center

28 layoffs (40% cut) — The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Other conservation agencies are also targeted:

Bureau of Land Management 475 layoffs 

National Park Service 272 layoffs

US Fish and Wildlife Service 143 layoffs

You can help stop this. Call your local representative and senator. Urge them to do whatever they can to stop these layoffs. Urge them to make it a deal point in the shutdown negotiations that Congress assert stronger authority over federal workforce reductions.