In one call, more than 400 Fish & Wildlife workers lost their jobs. What they heard.

USA Today

20-03-2025

In one call, more than 400 Fish & Wildlife workers lost their jobs. What they heard.
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Here's what wildlife refuge workers heard during mass layoffs
More than a half dozen workers at national wildlife refuges across Florida were fired amid the Trump administration's mass layoffs of the federal workforce.
More than 400 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service employees were fired in a Valentine's Day video conference call that left many of them in tears or otherwise heartbroken.
But higher-ups at the agency tried to break the news to them as gently as possible — and encouraged them not to give up on themselves or government service — during the call.
The virtual meeting, between Fish & Wildlife human resources officials and probationary employees across the country, lasted nearly 20 minutes and was recorded by a number of people on the line, including one worker who can be heard sobbing in the background.
'There's going to be some very difficult news shared today,' an agency administrator said at the outset of the call, 'and there's little we can say to blunt the pain of these actions.'
Audio from the meeting, which was obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat and USA TODAY NETWORK, provides an extraordinary glimpse into how one agency is handling mass cuts to the federal workforce imposed by President Donald Trump and overseen by billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Three Fish & Wildlife managers delivered the bad news, though the identity of the man who spoke first could not be confirmed immediately.
They struck a decidedly different tone than Trump, whose catchphrase on 'The Apprentice' was 'You're fired,' or Musk, the cost-cutting CEO who wielded a chainsaw at a February gathering of conservatives.
'Because you embody the things that we think are important in the Fish & Wildlife Service — a respectful, collaborative, forward-thinking approach to the way that we advance our conservation mission — the actions that we're about to talk about today may feel like that belief in you has changed,' he said. 'Please know that it has not.'
Another agency official, identified by former employees as Rebekah Giddings, said the agency had the option of 'just emailing everyone' a letter and 'calling it done.'
'We just couldn't do that,' said Giddings, the agency's chief of Human Capital. 'We needed to make sure that we talked, and we at least reached out and let everyone know that we care. We know that you're hurting deeply from this and that we feel the pain with you.'
Abby Berg, a regional civil engineer project manager based at the J.N. 'Ding' Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, was among Fish & Wildlife workers who were on that fateful call. It happened to come a year to the day from when she first joined the service.
'I had so much going through my head,' Berg told the USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida in an interview last week. 'It felt like everything fell apart so fast. It was just overwhelming sadness.'
In the wake of the firings, former Fish & Wildlife employees began moving on with their lives, with Berg and others landing new jobs elsewhere. But even that has been thrown into chaos by recent courtroom developments.
After federal judges last week in California and Maryland ordered a pause in the mass firings and the reinstatement of probationary workers, an unknown number ex-FWS employees have been offered their old jobs back.
'The direction that the administration is going'
During the conference call, Giddings said that in a couple of hours, employees would get a 'generic' email saying the decision to terminate was the result of 'workforce planning' by the U.S. Department of Interior, which houses Fish & Wildlife. An hour after that, she said, they would lose most of their system access.
'The bottom line is probationary employees and employees that are in their trial period ... are being let go,' she said. 'We in the service have about 420 people in that situation. So this is impacting a pretty large percentage of our workforce.'
A number of the fired workers, who kept in touch with one another after their dismissals, reported getting an email from the Department of Interior with harsher wording than described on the conference call. That email told employees they were getting fired because their skills no longer met the needs of the agency.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is devoted to the conservation of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitat, employed some 8,300 people as of 2020. Its website says the agency, which manages more than 570 national wildlife refuges and 70 national fish hatcheries across the country, is 'powered by more than 8,000 employees and volunteers.'
Giddings told employees on the call that military veterans and employees who entered a deferred resignation program were excluded from the terminations. The resignation program, offered early in Trump's second term, gave workers a chance to bow out but keep getting paid through the fiscal year.
She also urged workers to read the email they were sent, which she said included information about appeals and other rights they had.
'It specifically says this is not a conduct or a performance issue, and that's very important,' she said. 'Just this was the direction that the administration is going.'
Laury Marshall, acting chief of public affairs at Fish and Wildlife, said in an email that it was department policy not to comment on 'litigation related to personnel matters.'
'The U.S. Department of the Interior remains committed to its mission of managing the nation's resources and serving the American people while ensuring fiscal responsibility,' she wrote.
Brier Ryver, one of two Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge Complex employees who were fired on the call, said that while the cuts achieved some 'level of reduction in spending,' they weren't 'purposeful.'
'To me, it's like telling someone to lose weight by cutting off your legs,' Ryver said.
'Can't resist the idea of going back'
In an unexpected twist, Berg, Ryver and others who were fired from Fish & Wildlife may get their old jobs back.
In an interview with the Democrat on Saturday, Ryver, who uses they/them pronouns, noted that after they were fired, they filled out applications for 84 jobs and landed four interviews, including one in Tallahassee.
Ryver applied for only one job with the federal government because they said it no longer felt like a "safe stable" work environment. On Monday though, Ryver said they had gotten a verbal offer to return to the Fish & Wildlife Service and couldn't participate in interviews with the media anymore.
The reported reinstatements come as a clearer picture was emerging of how many Fish and Wildlife employees at national wildlife refuges in Florida had lost their jobs. At least 11 were fired, including three at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee NWR; two each at the St. Marks and Crystal River NWRs; and one each at the "Ding" Darling, Florida Panther and Crocodile Lake NWRs. Another new regional hire based in Miami also was terminated.
Berg, a term employee whose position comes up every 13 months for renewal, was hired with supplemental congressional funds to help repair and rebuild "Ding" Darling NWR after it got hit by Hurricane Ian in 2022. She hoped to one day become a permanent employee.
The day before she was fired, she toured Florida Panther as part of a site visit to the wildlife refuge in Collier County. She said the endangered Florida panther, whose numbers dropped to the 20s in the mid-1970s, rebounded because of efforts by federal Fish & Wildlife and others.
"This job honestly felt like a dream come true every single day to get to go to work," she said. "It was amazing."
On Tuesday, Berg said she had just learned about the reinstatements through "informal" channels. Even though she recently began her new job, she expressed excitement about the prospect of returning to Fish & Wildlife.
'I can't resist the idea of going back to the job I love so much!' she said in an email. 'But I also recognize there is still a lot of risk in our current jobs. I'm going to wait for more details but will likely take the reinstatement.'
Marshall, the FWS spokesperson, did not respond to questions about whether all of the employees who were fired on the conference call will be offered their old jobs back or when that might happen.
Giddings, in the conference call, touched on the possibility that the people who were listening in might one day want to return to federal agency work. She urged them to keep their last personnel action forms and other documents and contacts.
'This is probably not what you want to hear,' she said, 'but we really would like for you to continue to have interest in becoming a federal employee and public servant.'
Contact Jeff Burlew at [e-mail] or 850-599-2180.