Here’s a question.
In November, did Americans vote for longer lines at national parks, unmaintained trails in national forests and an end-around of environmental laws so we can log the heck out of America’s forests and teach California Gov. Gavin Newsom how to end fire as we know it?
I kind of doubt it. Mostly I heard how we voted to lower the price of eggs.
I’m still not sure what we voted for, but whatever it was, we’re getting it. How many are noticing, however, is unclear. Once Memorial Day arrives, many vacationers may be shocked to learn their favorite campgrounds are closed, or if they’re open, the restroom facilities might not be, due to staffing shortages.
If you plan to visit a national forest campground or a national park anytime soon, maybe pack a shovel suitable for cat-hole digging and plenty of biodegradable toilet paper, because it might be that kind of summer.
High Country News reported that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cut 3,400 Forest Service jobs and 2,300 more from the Department of Interior in February. It’s not clear those represent all the jobs cut in these agencies that manage our public lands, since the DOGE isn’t any more transparent than it is efficient.
There is no official head count of fired federal workers.
Let’s consider the efficiency of firing thousands of “probationary” employees in agencies across the government. The DOGE brain trust seems to think one solution to deficit federal spending is firing employees placed on probation because they’re underperforming on the job.
So that’s what DOGE leadership did, while also demonstrating that the people running DOGE are incompetent. Incompetent because most of those probationary employees weren’t underperforming; they were doing the opposite.
Fed rules mandate that if you work for the Forest Service, or maybe up in Glacier for the Park Service, and you’re good enough at your job to earn a promotion, you are placed on probationary status for a year.
So, what is efficient about firing 3,400 of the Forest Service’s best, recently promoted workers?
If you answered “nothing,” you’re the winner. Unfortunately, in the age of DOGE, all you get is a booby prize.
I’m not so deluded to think that every government position and every government agency is functioning at the highest levels of efficiency. In a bureaucracy the size of the U.S. federal government, some waste or inefficiency is impossible to eliminate, completely. But good, recently promoted managers can keep it to a minimum.
Think about what the recent DOGE cuts have done to root out wasteful spending and balance the federal budget. In 2024, the government racked up a $1.83 trillion deficit. That’s a lot of money, right? So surely, firing 3,400 Forest Service employees will fix our fiscal woes.
Not really. Excluding active-duty military personnel and workers in the semi-autonomous Postal Service, there are about 2.4 million federal workers earning an average salary of $106,382. If DOGE fired all of those workers tomorrow, that would save the U.S. Treasury roughly $256 billion per year.
That’s firing everyone. Every forest ranger, biologist, every cashier at the gift shop or park entrance, as well as the workers who make sure you receive your Social Security check each month or collect taxes or patrol the border. Air traffic controllers all lose their jobs, too.
That’s a lot of inefficiency, all to reduce the deficit by 14%.
Citizens who enjoy the riches of America’s public lands and wildlife have been living the good life for at least 50 years. There’s a darn good argument we’ve never had it so good. Taking that legacy and destroying it because a handful of tech bros think “Move Fast and Break Things” is scripture rather than a business model of dubious value is one of the dumbest moves in American history.
And yet we’re doing it anyway.