After the most recent presidential inauguration, DOGE has stirred up significant controversy. The Department of Government Efficiency — an advisory board created by President Donald Trump in Jan. 2025 that is led by billionaire Elon Musk — aims to improve the cost efficiency of the United States government, largely by cutting federal programs. They’ve already cut millions of dollars in funding to programs such as the National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. According to DOGE’s official website, a total of $115 billion has been cut across all programs — though that figure is highly disputed by economic experts — with plans to cut more. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, all federal workers were offered a deferred resignation proposal that gave these employees financial incentives if they resigned before Feb. 6. However, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, this proposition was voted illegal by federal judges on Feb. 12. A majority of these employees were involved in environmental agencies like NOAA and NPS, leaving these organizations with thousands of vacant jobs.
Employees at NOAA have suffered especially from DOGE’s mass job cuts. According to Washington state senator Patty Murray, over 600 NOAA employees have been fired, and there are plans to fire 1,000 more. NOAA is the primary organization that predicts weather and conserves the country’s coastal ecosystems. It conducts critical climate research, preserving America’s fisheries and fortifies national security. In their 2025 budget report, NOAA reported an annual funding of $6.6 billion from the federal government, and the plan to cut 1,600 employees will save an estimated $144 million for the country.
Job cuts have not been limited to one organization. Since Feb. 14, 1,000 NPS and 3,400 U.S. Forest Service employees have been fired by the DOGE administration. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, these cuts represent 6% of the NPS’s budget saved, which translates to $210 million.
While these figures themselves seem high, their effects in comparison to the total budget are not extremely significant. The biggest issue for DOGE will be reconciling the $4.5 trillion loss the government endured due to President Trump’s tax cuts, according to the Tax Foundation — a far cry from DOGE’s already dubious $115 billion figure. The $4.5 trillion in tax cuts will instead cost the average American taxpayer about $29,259 in 2025. To meet this figure — and assuming $115 billion in legitimate spending cuts — DOGE would have to cut a further $4.35 trillion, or 64% of the country’s total spending in 2024, according to the U.S. Treasury.
The justification used to mass fire NPS workers was that the fired employees were still probationary, which means that they were either hired recently, or they’re long-term employees in the midst of a promotion. The email also stated that the workers were considered poor performers. Former NPS Science Communications Specialist Hazel Galloway (she/her) said that news of the firings was quite a shock to her and her colleagues, as the reasoning did not align with the work they had accomplished.
“The only way that you can legally fire someone in our position is if we’re not living up to the demands of the job,” Galloway said. “However, that’s not true for me. I have evaluations from last year that I got the highest results on in my formal job evaluation, and I did get an award for my entire national level division last year for my science communication work. So I can say of myself that they clearly did not check, and I know that’s true for many other probationary employees that I know.”
As a science communication specialist, Galloway served eight national park sites across western Washington and Oregon. Her work was primarily individual, meaning that due to her termination, most of it will now remain unfinished. Galloway was tasked with synthesizing complex scientific research within the parks and translating it to a way that was understandable to the public. She is concerned for the future of NPS, as the cuts from DOGE have removed a significant portion of NPS probationary staff.
“It’s actually not a very large agency. There’s only around 20,000 staff, give or take,” Galloway said. “The NPS has lost 9% of its workforce in the last three weeks, which is pretty shocking.”
National Park tourist interest has increased recently. According to NPS, there was an all-time historic high visitation rate last year at 331 million visitors. Because of a progressive decrease in funding, NPS could not afford a corresponding increase in staffing.
“In the last 15 years, Park Service staffing has fallen 20% and public visitation has risen over 15% so there was already no wiggle room there,” Galloway said. “There was no fat to cut. If an administration wanted to destroy a public agency’s ability to do their job, this would be a very good way to do it.”
Many former employees such as former Yosemite National Park locksmith Nate Vince (he/him) have been fighting against these mass terminations. On Feb. 22, just one week after his termination, Vince unfurled a massive, upside-down American flag on the side of El Capitan summit in Yosemite. His protest drew national attention, and became the emblem of the NPS rebuttal against DOGE.
Galloway stressed the importance of supporting environmental agencies like NPS and NOAA. Without organizations to protect and research the environment, she said the future of national parks and public lands are at risk.
“This country needs public lands, national parks, national forests, national monuments,
fish and wildlife refuges. What would we be without these places?” Galloway said. “These are not places we can turn a profit on. That is not what they are. If we want public lands to persist in our vision of this country, we need to be speaking out for them now because we are going to lose them.”
