Possible second round of national park terminations draw fire from Mojave Desert groups

Yahoo

27-02-2025

Nearly 1,000 National Park Service employees were laid off ahead of the agency's busy summer season as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to downsize the federal government.
Recent emails from the Department of the Interior allegedly informed federal park employees that a second round of terminations would follow.
Krystian Lahage, Public Policy Officer for the Mojave Desert Land Trust, said they are "closely watching this situation" and are "deeply concerned over federal staff firings."
'The Mojave Desert Land Trust strongly opposes the Trump Administration's decision to fire thousands of employees serving our public lands," Kelly Herbinson said in a press release, Executive Director of Mojave Desert Land Trust.
"These actions put landscapes at risk that are championed and beloved by our communities and visitors alike. They exacerbate long-standing funding and staffing shortages for our nation's public lands. We are deeply saddened by the toll this action is taking on morale among federal employees who have dedicated their careers to preserving this country's most treasured landscapes.'
Mojave Desert Land Trust tallied up the numbers.
Federal firings in February have included approximately 2,300 employees at the Department of the Interior, with 800 staff at the Bureau of Land Management and 1,000 staff at the National Park Service. A further 3,000 U.S. Forest Service employees were laid off.
A second round of layoffs is expected.
The Trump administration Wednesday ordered heads of federal departments and agencies to prepare to initiate "large-scale reductions in force" by March 13.
A memo sent by the Personnel Management and Management and Budget offices has also instructed federal departments to eliminate positions and produce reorganization plans for their agencies by the same deadline, USA Today reported.
Six probationary employees were fired at Joshua Tree National Park following what many are calling the "Valentine's Day Massacre" on Feb. 14.
According to Joshua Tree's local radio station, Z107.7 FM, park employees were allegedly notified on Tuesday, Feb. 25 via email from the Department of the Interior of a possible second round of terminations later this week for "schedule A employees."
Schedule A employees include people with severe physical, psychiatric, or intellectual abilities as well as interpreters and other disability assistants according to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
This second round of layoffs notification comes only days after email ultimatums from the head of Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk on Saturday, Feb. 22, demanding a reply detailing employee's five accomplishments within the last week lest they face "termination through resignation."
Mojave Desert Land Trust does not have any indication yet whether and how the layoffs of BLM staff will directly impact Chuckwalla National Monument or other Southern California public lands.
For now, most federal outdoor recreation staff around the nation are unsure of their future.
'The loss of experienced staff in these positions will negatively impact protected habitat in the long-term," Mojave Desert Land Trust organizers told the Daily Press. "The lack of adequate staffing will make it extremely difficult to mitigate visitor interaction with the fragile desert ecosystem and at-risk species such as the Joshua tree and the Endangered Mojave Desert tortoise."
Staffing at Joshua Tree National Park was already operating at reduced capacity, Herbinson added, and seasonal employees will not be a solution to this public land crisis.
Joshua Tree is one of the busiest national parks in California with 3 million annual visitors trailing only Yosemite. The absence of these permanent staff could also lead to lower collected revenue. While visitation has risen to National Park Service units over the last decade, appropriate funding has not followed.
Park advocates like the National Parks Conservation Association and Coalition to Protect National Parks also warn of the repercussions of laying off so many personnel at an organization that was already understaffed.
The ability to protect the parks will severely diminish with fewer staff, they advise. Trash will accumulate and toilets in campgrounds will go unattended. Rescue response time will also be critically slower with fewer people manning national parks, leaving many skeptical of their safety while visiting the parks this summer.
Mojave Desert Land Trust told the Daily Press that it is also concerned about the Ending Presidential Overreach on Public Lands Act authored this year by Representatives Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Mark Amodei (R-NV). The act would rescind the president's authority to designate national monuments by requiring congressional approval.
The Antiquities Act is a bedrock, first-of-its-kind conservation law that gives presidents the authority to designate national monuments on federal lands.
It has been used by an equal number of Republican and Democratic presidents since its enactment by President Roosevelt in 1906. Locally, both Joshua Tree and Death Valley began as national monuments designated by the Antiquities Act.
Mojave Desert Land Trust has joined countless other organizations and voters in opposing this legislation that would take away the acting president's power to designate national parks and monuments.
The Department of the Interior held a 15-day internal review of the nation's national monuments and other public lands previously protected from mineral and energy extraction this month.
The review came at the behest of Interior Secretary Burgum's Secretarial Order 3418 "Unleashing American Energy," which primarily dealt with rolling back energy development regulations.
Order 3418 encourages energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters to meet the needs of the citizens and solidify the United States as a global energy leader long into the future. The order states the intention of doing so is to establish the nation's position as the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.
This process excludes input from the public.
Mojave Desert Land Trust is strongly opposed to this order. Energy production is already booming on the lands available for extraction, organizers argued.
According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States has been the world's top producer of crude oil for the past six years, meaning, there is no need to further compromise the country's public and federal lands.
Through pioneering grassroots efforts, the Mojave Desert Land Trust successfully campaigned for a new national monument to be recognized in Southern California's Mojave Desert this year.
The establishment of Chuckwalla National Monument came as one of outgoing President Joe Biden's last executive actions. It is now the fifth largest land-based national monument in the mainland U.S.
Over the course of the last 18 years, Mojave Desert Land Trust has closely collaborated with the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management in the shared mission of conserving public lands through land acquisition, stewardship, native plant conservation, and education.
Since its founding in 2006, Mojave Desert Land Trust has conserved over 125,000 acres, conveying more tracts of land to the National Park Service than any other nonprofit.
Mojave Desert Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to protect and care for lands with natural, scenic, and cultural value within the Colorado and Mojave Deserts.
The organization established a conservation seed bank to ensure the preservation of native species, which today houses over 900 seed collections. The organization also operates an onsite nursery at its Joshua Tree headquarters which has grown over 120,000 native plants for restoration projects and community landscaping.
Mojave Desert Land Trust educates and advocates for the conservation of the desert, involving hundreds of volunteers in its work.
McKenna is a reporter for the Daily Press. She can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Mojave Desert groups oppose second round of national park terminations