Support Fully Staffed Land Management Agencies
In February 2025, BHA launched an action alert opposing sweeping firings of federal staff who manage our public lands, waters, and wildlife. While some were later reinstated, many others chose early retirement through the administration's Deferred Resignation Program resulting in an approximate 10-15% reduction of federal land management personnel.
In July, Secretary Brooke Rollins of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued memorandum SM 1078-015 outlining reorganization plans to further reduce USDA's workforce. The plan consolidates the Forest Service's nine Regional Offices into five USDA hubs and merges five stand-alone Research Stations into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Department of the Interior (DOI), home to the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, has been hit just as hard. DOI has already lost more than one in ten employees through firings, retirements, and attrition, and is now preparing additional workforce reductions. The loss of biologists, law enforcement officers, and refuge and range managers will directly undermine habitat restoration, migratory bird and fisheries programs, and recreational access on millions of acres of public lands and waters.
Now, with the federal government shut down, the White House and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are going further -- directing agencies to use this lapse in appropriations to prepare reductions in force (RIFs). What once would have been a temporary furlough could now become a permanent layoff for thousands of civil servants at the very agencies charged with safeguarding habitat, sustaining wildlife, and maintaining public access.
The loss of local expertise and the hollowing out of agencies like the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will undermine conservation for decades. As a result, hunters, anglers, and the local communities who depend on science-based management of public lands and waters will pay the price.
Join BHA in standing up for our wild public lands and waters today. Contact your members of Congress and tell them to support fully staffed public land management agencies to ensure our outdoor heritage endures for generations to come.