Source Government Executiv
“Employees fear diminished capacity after RIFs are tacked on to existing mass exodus.”
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – The Interior Department is finalizing reduction-in-force plans expected to target thousands of employees, including 1,500 at the National Park Service, with notices going out to employees within 10 days.
The anticipated layoffs follow the departure of thousands of Interior employees leaving the department under various incentives. Interior earlier in May initiated a consolidation of several functions currently conducted by each bureau individually by rolling them up into the department’s headquarters, where they will report directly to Secretary Doug Burgum. Some of the employees who were part of that consolidation—such as those in IT, communications, finance, human resources and contracting—are eventually expected to feel the impacts of workforce downsizing.
NPS is expected to issue around 1,500 RIFs, while the U.S. Geological Survey will lay off around 1,000 employees—focused on its Ecosystems Mission Area, according to a person familiar with the plans—and the Bureau of Reclamation will target around 100 to 150 employees, according to another employee there briefed on the details. Other components, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service, are also expected to experience layoffs. Four sources confirmed the first round of RIFs are expected on or around May 15.
Reclamation already lost about one-quarter of its 5,800 employees through incentivized departures, according to an employee briefed on the details, so it is expecting a smaller RIF of 100 to 150 employees. At NPS, meanwhile, just 5% of employees have so far opted into the “deferred resignation program”—which has enabled them to take paid leave through September, at which point they must leave government service—leading to a more significant expected RIF for the agency.
While NPS staff were originally told the RIFs would focus on Washington and regional staff, wiping out those directorates would mean individual parks would also see direct impacts. Some of the functions of those offices are statutorily required, said Kriten Brengel, the National Parks Conservation Association’s senior vice president for government affairs, who added groups like hers would sue Interior if it follows through on its plans.
A second round of RIFs is expected at least in some parts of Interior in mid-June, according to two employees briefed on the matter. A third deferred resignation offer is under discussion between the two rounds of RIFs, several employees said, though the exact contours of who would be eligible for that is still taking shape. A high uptake on that offer could obviate the need for additional RIFs, employees said.
The Interior Department did not respond to a detailed list of questions regarding its plans.
Government Executive first reported on Interior’s plan to consolidate functions across the department earlier this month, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum subsequently confirmed in a memorandum. Burgum tapped the assistant secretary for policy, management budget—a role currently being filled by Tyler Hassenm—to lead the effort. Hassen previously served in the Department of Government Efficiency.
Interior bureaus held RIF webinars this week to inform employees of the process for the layoffs, but largely did not offer details on when to expect the cuts to occur or who would be impacted.
The department last month asked employees for updated resumes—ostensibly so their agencies can determine their eligibility for other positions if they are laid off—and instructed them to verify their personnel data were up to date in preparation for a RIF. Last week, Interior froze all personnel actions, including name changes, promotions and reassignments, in anticipation of the consolidation and subsequent layoffs.
David Szymanski, regional director for NPS’ Pacific West Region, told employees on Wednesday there would certainly be RIFs coming shortly. The agency would be further reorganized following those layoffs, he said, though no details have been shared to date. Syzmanksi told employees he would be taking the deferred resignation offer, but encouraged them not to lose faith in the agency.
“Do what you can to keep the Park Service going,” he said. “Those left will be responsible for determining what this looks like.”
The cuts come on top of a significant exodus across Interior as employees have flocked to the deferred resignation, buyouts and early retirements all while a hiring freeze is in place. NPS has already lost around 13% of its workforce, according to NPCA, complicating Burgum’s order to keep parks open without reducing hours.
The mandate—park superintendents will need a sign off from agency leadership to close even a trail or visitor center—already raised concerns with agency stakeholders even before the layoff plans were made clear. NPCA’s Brengel suggested Burgum was “setting up the Park Service for failure” as it aims to carry out the same level of operations without the requisite staff to do so.
She added the expansion of NPS RIFs to the science teams means the cuts are “larger and more directly attacking the Park Service.”
A USGS employee in the Ecosystems Mission Area said the cuts will likely spell the end of fish survey work, in which agency staff go out on ships to provide data to states that inform their fish stocking and harvest rates.
“The states do not have the funds or staff to take over,” the employee said. “There are few people in the US with these skills.”
Mary Jo Rugwell, a long time BLM executive who now leads the Public Lands Foundation, said her former agency has lost more than 1,000 employees since President Trump took office, or about 10% of the workforce. The agency has long suffered from understaffing, Rugwell said, an issue exacerbated in Trump’s first term when he moved the agency’s headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado. Now, she said, as employees head for the exits and more RIFs are expected, BLM will struggle to carry out the Trump administration’s priorities to approve oil and gas leasing, grazing permits, drilling and timber sales, work that requires significant experience.
“The very people you need to get this work done, they’re sending them packing,” Rugwell said. “And it doesn’t make any sense.”
Interior has not yet finalized its consolidation effort. Next steps, such as the conversion of email addresses from the bureau to department level, will occur after the RIFs have taken place. Employees said the rapid pace of change is making it both harder for employees to do their work and easier for the department to see through its overhaul.
“Morale is at an all time low,” one employee said. “People are worried about RIFs, contracts being cut and so many changes coming at once. Consolidation at the department is seen as a hostile takeover of bureau level functions, and a way to group people to make RIFs easier.”
In his fiscal 2026 budget, President Trump proposed cutting Interior’s budget by 30%. That includes a $1 billion cut to NPS and transferring some of its sites to state control.
Szymanski, the NPS regional director, told his staff that NPS “changing direction” does not mean their accomplishments were in vain.
“I don’t want anyone to look back and say ‘that work I did didn’t matter,’ because it did,” he said.