Interior Plans to Further Gut Staffing Levels at National Park Service as Part of New Initiative

WASHINGTON, D.C. - This week, the Department of the Interior announced a new scheme to downsize its workforce.

The announcement of a voluntary layoff program comes one year after Interior, working alongside Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), fired approximately 2,300 employees - including 1,000 from the National Park Service and 800 from the Bureau of Land Management.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claims the initiative will "optimize operations" and "streamline outdated bureaucracy", including prioritizing staff roles within NPS that interact with the public. However, DOGE staff have publicly claimed their previous efforts - including massive staff reductions across multiple federal agencies - didn't save the federal government any money, and the national debt has almost doubled since Donald Trump said he would erase it.

The Sierra Club and partners have ongoing litigation against DOGE over the illegal firing of federal workers. In March, a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling allowing the lawsuit to move forward.

In response to the news, Gerry James, deputy director of the Sierra Club's Outdoors For All campaign, issued the following statement:

"This is the Trump administration's familiar formula: dress up layoffs as 'reform' and force the public to accept less. The people should believe their eyes - this is not an improvement. If Interior's initiative were really about serving the public better, we would see proposals for stronger staffing, deeper investment, and more support for the people who protect our public lands and welcome people into them."