- Interior plans a reduction-in-force targeting at least 2,050 jobs, threatening national parks, scientific research, and field operations across public lands.
- Unions secured a temporary restraining order halting layoffs for covered workers amid accusations the administration is fast-tracking cuts during the shutdown.
WASHINGTON — As the federal government shutdown stretches into its third week, the Department of the Interior has laid bare plans to slash more than 2,000 positions across its sprawling network of bureaus and field offices, a move that’s stoking fears about the future of public lands management and scientific research.
The disclosures, buried in a court filing tied to a union lawsuit, come at a tense moment for federal workers already grappling with furloughs and delayed paychecks.
While Interior officials insist the cuts are about efficiency and predate the budget impasse, critics warn they could cripple everything from national park operations to wildfire response in the American West.
The FrankNez Media Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
The department’s reduction-in-force (RIF) blueprint, detailed in an October 21 filing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, targets at least 2,050 jobs — a number that could climb higher once full details emerge.
These aren’t shutdown-driven firings, according to Rachel Borra, Interior’s chief human capital officer.
In the document, she wrote: “Since the current administration took office in January 2025, Interior has been taking steps to implement administration priorities, including by seeking to streamline functions and personnel as appropriate to promote efficiency.
Among those streamlining efforts, Interior has been working on potential RIF plans since early this year.
These planning efforts were begun long before the current lapse in appropriations and had nothing to do with the lapse in appropriations.”
But the timing feels anything but coincidental.
When Are They Mass Layoffs Happening?
The planned layoffs, originally slated for rollout as early as October 20, were halted last week by a temporary restraining order from Judge Susan Illston.
The order, first issued to shield workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), was expanded to cover employees from the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and National Association of Government Employees (NAGE).
The unions sued to block what they called an “illegal, unprecedented abuse of power,” arguing the administration is exploiting the shutdown to fast-track politically motivated cuts.
The hits would land hard across Interior’s empire, which oversees 500 million acres of public lands, including national parks, wildlife refuges, and energy leasing programs.
Field offices would bear much of the brunt, with 89 “competitive areas” — essentially clusters of similar jobs — now in the crosshairs, up from 68 in an earlier filing.
Here’s a breakdown of the proposed eliminations by bureau, drawn from the court documents:
| Bureau/Office | Positions Targeted | Key Impacts |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Land Management | 474 | Primarily field offices in Oregon, Washington, Utah, California, Idaho, Arizona, and Colorado — core to land use planning and resource management. |
| National Park Service | 272 | Deep regional cuts: 31% in the Southeast, 29% in the Pacific, 28% in the Northeast; threatens park maintenance and visitor services. |
| U.S. Geological Survey | 335 | Broad reductions in scientific roles, from hydrology to mapping, potentially disrupting data used for energy, insurance, and disaster prep. |
| Interior Headquarters & Business Center | 770 | Includes 133 contracting jobs, 140 in the Interior Business Center, and 303 in IT operations — central to department-wide support. |
| Fish and Wildlife Service | 143 | Affects conservation and endangered species programs nationwide. |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 30 | Water management roles in the West, where droughts are already straining resources. |
| Bureau of Ocean Energy Management | 12 | Offshore energy leasing and environmental reviews. |
| Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement | 7 | Oil and gas safety oversight. |
| Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement | 7 | Coal mine cleanup and enforcement. |
These figures only capture roles protected by the court order; the true tally could exceed 2,000 as non-union areas proceed unchecked.
Layoff Data Starts to Pick Up Again
This isn’t Interior’s first swing at the axe. Since President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, the department has shed thousands through voluntary buyouts, early retirements, and earlier RIF attempts.
In April, it offered deferred resignation programs (DRPs) to administrative staff in IT, HR, finance, and contracting, aiming to centralize those functions and fold them into headquarters.
Many senior career leaders took the bait, but an 11th-hour injunction in May derailed a planned wave of thousands more cuts, including 1,500 at the National Park Service alone.
By July, Interior had expanded its layoff “competitive areas” to over 1,400 job groups across bureaus like Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife, resetting a 90-day clock for potential firings.
Fast-forward to September, and reports surfaced of mid-October layoffs in the works, potentially doubling prior losses and trimming more than a third of the workforce from Trump’s first day in office.
Contingency plans released during the shutdown pegged Interior’s overall staff drop at around 14% since September 2024, with the National Park Service and USGS hit hardest.
Earlier this year, in February, the department fired about 2,300 probationary and senior specialists — including engineers, biologists, and geologists — as part of a broader purge targeting “DEI initiatives” and non-statutory roles.
The Bureau of Land Management alone lost 800 in that round.
Zoom out, and Interior’s turmoil mirrors a federal workforce bloodletting that’s reshaped Washington since January.
The Trump administration, via the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and OMB Director Russell Vought, has announced about 300,000 layoffs overall — nearly 12% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workers.
It Gets Deeper for Federal Layoffs Across the Board
Stages included stripping protections via executive order in January, incentivizing exits through DRPs (over 76,000 buyouts by May), and now RIFs accelerated by the shutdown.
October has been brutal. On October 10, Vought posted on X: “The RIFs have begun,” signaling cuts across at least seven agencies totaling 4,200 jobs.
The IRS, already down 25% through voluntary separations (including 2,000 IT staff), issued notices to 1,300 more, many in tax processing and legacy systems maintenance.
The Environmental Protection Agency furloughed dozens in recycling and plastics programs, while Health and Human Services and Housing and Urban Development trimmed divisions handling homelessness grants and community planning.
At Education, workers in special education programs got hit, with some learning of their fate only after scraping for email access amid the shutdown. Unions and watchdogs are apoplectic.
AFGE President Everett Kelley slammed the moves as something “no president has ever decided to fire thousands of furloughed workers during a government shutdown.”
Max Stier, CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, called it using “civil servants as hostages,” warning of a “hollowed out” government robbed of expertise.
At Interior, Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, didn’t mince words, stating, “This plan would eviscerate the core science that every American depends on.
USGS research underpins everything from American energy to insurance to transportation. The cuts that Secretary Burgum envisions would devastate scientific research across the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and Great Lakes.
These layoffs, if they come to fruition, would also devastate the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management, getting rid of the planning, construction, and regional offices that make our parks and public lands the envy of the world.”
What Comes Next? Wait For It
For the roughly 70,000 men and women at Interior — rangers patrolling Yosemite, scientists tracking seismic shifts in Yellowstone, or clerks processing drilling permits in Alaska — the uncertainty is personal.
Furloughs mean no pay until Congress acts, and now RIF notices could mean no job at all.
One anonymous Education Department employee, speaking to The Guardian, captured the scramble, stating, “I don’t have email access due to the shutdown. Some have received permission to check. I have not.”
At Interior, similar stories echo: field staff wondering if their next shift will be their last.
As Democrats and Republicans dig in over spending — with Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins decrying “arbitrary layoffs” that undermine agencies — the human cost mounts.
The Partnership for Public Service tallies just 25,000 RIFs so far this year, but with OPM forecasting “hundreds of thousands more” separations by October’s end, the federal government’s leaner silhouette is coming into sharp, sobering focus.
For now, Judge Illston’s order buys time, but in a divided Washington, time feels like the scarcest resource of all.
Also Read: Republicans Face Growing Backlash as Voters Blame Them for Govt. Shutdown
