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On Monday afternoon, the Outpost was contacted by a local federal worker asking us to report on employees at Redwood National Park and Six Rivers National Forest who’d been fired over the weekend.

“The Trump/Musk administration sent them termination notices citing their insufficient fitness and qualifications for their positions, which is categorically false,” the tipster reported. “Park operations are officially in jeopardy and it’s going to have significant impacts on the tourism industry, not to mention the health of our public lands.”

Over the past few days, the U.S. Forest Service has fired about 3,400 recent hires while the National Park Service fired about 1,000 workers as part of President Donald Trump’s push to cut federal spending and bureaucracy. The layoffs left some fired workers suddenly without housing and sparked alarm among conservation agencies.

“Allowing parks to hire seasonal staff is essential, but staffing cuts of this magnitude will have devastating consequences for parks and communities,” National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) President Theresa Pierno said in a statement.

Employees were blindsided by the move.

“Today I lost my dream job as a permanent park ranger in the NPS,” Alex Wild reported via Instagram Sunday. “I’m still in shock, and completely devastated. I have dedicated my life to being a public servant, teacher, and advocate for places that we ALL cherish. I have saved lives and put my own life at risk to serve my community.  And today, without any warning, I got a termination email … .”

Wild quoted from the email he received, calling its message, “the biggest slap in the face imaginable.”:

The Department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the Department’s current needs, and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment to the position of Park Ranger.

The Outpost’s efforts to get more information from both the National Parks Service and the U.S. Forest Service — including the number of local employees fired, the possible impacts to services, etc. — have not been fruitful. An emailed inquiry sent to Redwood National and State Parks Superintendent Steven Mietz was forwarded to a public information officer, who, in reply, said such questions should be directed to the Pacific West regional office. 

Scott Clemans, the lead public affairs specialist and spokesperson for that office, sent a brief and rather forlorn-sounding reply this afternoon: “We’ll provide that information as soon as we can,” it said. “I don’t know how long it will take before we’re able to get back to you, though.”

Meanwhile, in response to an email to Six Rivers National Forest, Public Affairs Specialist Adrianne Rubiaco directed us to contact the press officer for the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region. Our email to that office was answered more than 24 hours later by a USDA spokesperson who provided a statement that has been widely distributed. It says, in part:

[U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke] Rollins fully supports the President’s directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA’s many services to the American people. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.  

As part of this effort, USDA has made the difficult decision to release about 2,000 probationary, non-firefighting employees from the Forest Service. To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters. Released employees were probationary in status, many of whom were compensated by temporary IRA funding. 

This afternoon we sent a reporter to the Six Rivers National Forest headquarters near the Bayshore Mall. An employee onsite said all inquiries must go through Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Any local federal employees (including the recently fired) willing to share your perspective, anonymously or otherwise, can email the Outpost at news@lostcoastoutpost.com.