NewsNation) — At least 700 year-round National Park Service employees have taken buyouts, according to an internal memo obtained by The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
The memo, which was sent on Tuesday, according to The New York Times, says the workers who agreed to the deferred resignation plan will not be allowed to work after March 7. Under the plan, federal employees can resign but continue receiving their salaries until September.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees, making the number of people the service has reportedly lost 1,700, or about 9% of the workforce.
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In addition to the job cuts, internal documents and interviews given to The L.A. Times show that some staffers found that the credit cards they used to purchase gas for service vehicles and basic supplies like toilet paper were deactivated.
“It’s so crazy, because they give us no warning and shut down stuff randomly with, like, 12-hours’ notice,” one Park Service supervisor told The L.A. Times. “We would never do that to the public.”
NewsNation has reached out to the National Park Service for comment.
While the agency has undergone many job losses, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said it also plans to rehire thousands of seasonal workers.
“The Park Service has been given clearance to hire as many as 7,700 seasonal staff, which is a good number, but definitely not a replacement for those permanent staff that have been lost, that provide the expertise to manage those seasonals and operate parks and protect resources,” John Garder, a representative for the National Parks Conservation Association Government, told NewsNation.
Federal agency firings
News of the National Park Service buyouts comes as the Trump administration, along with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, continues working to slash the federal workforce and spending.
Thousands of people have been let go. On Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management sent federal agencies a memo giving them two weeks to submit plans for more layoffs and program consolidation.
NewsNation previously reported that about 77,000 federal employees accepted buyouts spearheaded by the Trump administration.
Reporting by NewsNation’s Patrick Djordjevic and Markie Martin contributed to this report.
