The Interior Department’s latest cuts, which total 2,000, target the NPS, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Division, and United States Geological Survey, among other agencies
More NPS rangers are slated to be fired under the latest proposed cuts (Photo: George Frey/Getty Images)
Updated October 20, 2025 04:36PM
The Trump Administration plans to lay off more than 2,000 employees of the Interior Department, including hundreds of workers from the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management.
That’s according to a filing which was posted on October 20 in the Northern District of California’s San Francisco division. According to the document, 2,050 workers across 89 Interior Department units are targeted for termination.
In a statement provided to Outside, the Interior Department said that the proposed layoffs predate the current federal shutdown.
“Since the start of the current administration, with several court ordered pauses, the Department of the Interior has repeatedly reviewed and evaluated its current workforce and its Departmental needs,” the statement says. “This includes examining efficiencies, reducing redundancies, as well as offering deferred retirement programs and exploring options related to reductions in force (RIFs).”
The proposed cuts come as the federal government enters its third week of shutdown. Throughout the federal shutdown, President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of mass layoffs at federal agencies.
According to Government Executive, a publication covering federal agencies, the layoffs are currently paused under a court order. On Wednesday, October 15, district judge Susan Illston labeled the cuts illegal and issued a freeze. The court filing listing the layoffs was disclosed on October 20 as part of the temporary halt on the firings.
If approved, the cuts would leave major vacancies across agencies that oversee public lands and outdoor recreation. According to The Hill, the layoffs target 474 employees from the Bureau of Land Management, 143 from the Fish and Wildlife Service, and 272 from the National Park Service. Of the 270 NPS cuts, 180 would be from parks in the Southeast, Northeast, and Pacific West regions of the agency.
Other cuts would target the United States Geological Survey, which is slated to lose 335 positions. The Office of the Secretary, the staff that serves current Interior Department Secretary Douglas Burgum, would lose 770 positions.
The proposed cuts mark the administration’s latest attempt to cull the workforce and budget at agencies that oversee public lands and outdoor recreation. In February, the Trump Administration fired thousands of National Park Service employees—it targeted workers with so-called “probationary” status, which included workers who had recently been hired into new positions.
The administration then offered buyouts and early retirement to NPS and other Interior Department workers. A federal hiring freeze prevented these agencies from filing many of the vacancies opened by the layoffs and buyouts.
The culling of federal agencies has provoked stern warnings from nonprofit groups and other organizations that work to protect public lands and the agencies that manage them.
On October 20, Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s lands protection program, called the latest proposed layoffs “sabotage,” in a statement sent to media outlets.
“The American people will ultimately pay the price for these planned layoffs at Interior,” Manuel said. “From national parks to wildlife refuges, staff at agencies like the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service protect and preserve our shared natural heritage. The Trump administration is deliberately hollowing out the federal agencies charged with safeguarding our environment to serve the corporate polluters who see our public lands as something to exploit, not protect.”