Back on the Chopping Block: Trump Slashes High Level Job Protections at NPS, BLM

In 2025, 5,800 public lands employees lost their jobs, and now even more employees’ jobs are at risk. In an executive order on June 3, President Trump reclassified over 8,000 government workers, stripping away job protections and making it easier to fire them.

The administration sees the move as a way to implement accountability, while opponents worry about how understaffing could lead to ineffective public lands management.

The Policy

The executive order, entitled “Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service,” applies to a specific class of federal employees known as GS-15. This is the highest tier of civil servants, with individuals typically acting in leadership and policy-related roles. They often help guide agencies and shape or influence policy decisions.

Usually, these kinds of workers are protected from layoffs and politically motivated firings. They can’t be fired, for example, if a president dislikes their policies. They can only be fired for inadequate performance or misconduct, a process that is subject to oversight.

In the Trump administration’s view, it has become overly complicated to fire underperforming employees.

“Federal employee removal procedures are lengthy and burdensome. Removals and subsequent appeals often take a year or more to process. As a result, agencies seldom remove career employees, even at senior levels, including for egregious conduct or subversion of Presidential priorities,” the administration said.

Thus, Trump’s executive order removes these protections, making it easier for the administration to fire federal GS-15 employees. The order said that this will “increase accountability.” The administration explained that “removal decisions will also be made without respect to political affiliation.”

How It Affects Public Lands

In the 2025 layoffs, many public lands employees who lost their jobs were on the ground, critical to daily operations. They included National Park Service (NPS) rangers, conservation biologists, archaeologists, civil engineers, and land surveyors. The executive order applies to higher-level employees who shape management, policy, and priorities.

Potential firings of these employees would be disruptive to public lands, albeit in a different way from the 2025 layoffs. The loss of NPS rangers meant longer entry lines at national parks; the loss of higher-ups in the NPS and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could mean changes in land management policy or disruptions in leadership.

There is concern that removing civil service protections will change how these high-level employees do their jobs.

“It creates bubbles around policymakers,” Don Moynihan, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, told NPR. “If you were a career civil servant and there is bad news that you want to share with the president, you’re less likely to do so if you think, ‘The minute I share that bad news, I’m going to get fired.’”

Unfilled Positions Remain Empty

This news comes at a time when major administrative positions in agencies like the BLM and NPS sit vacant. The NPS has not had a confirmed director since January 2025. In April, Trump withdrew his nominee for the job, Scott Socha, after controversy over his business dealings.

Multiple important positions at the BLM also remain unfilled. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, eight of the nine BLM State Director positions are vacant. These important positions implement federal policy and manage millions of acres of federal land.

GearJunkie reached out to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) for comment.

“The administration’s most recent attack on federal workers will only create more fear for an already traumatized Park Service workforce. Under this new order, a list of Park Service positions could be next on the chopping block after the agency has already lost nearly a quarter of its workforce since January 2025,” John Garder, NPCA’s Senior Director of Budget & Appropriations, said in an email.

“Park Service employees have dedicated their careers and have gone above and beyond to safeguard some of our nation’s most treasured places. Now, senior park staff are effectively being told that if they fail to fall in line with the administration, they could be the next to lose their jobs. This runs counter to the core values and mission of the Park Service to prioritize the protection of our most treasured places. Park staff must be able to serve our national parks objectively and without fear of retaliation.”

GearJunkie also reached out to the BLM for comment, but the agency said it does not comment on personnel issues.