Court filings show the administration is pushing to eliminate jobs at several wildlife and conservation departments.
Geese fly over the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge on October 2, 2024 in Tulelake, California. An avian botulism outbreak at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge at that time had killed over 90,000 ducks and waterfowl since late August, the most severe outbreak in the refuge’s recorded history.
Court documents released Monday show that the Trump administration is exploiting the ongoing government shutdown to pursue mass firings at the US Fish and Wildlife Service amid the nation’s worsening extinction crisis.
The new filings came as part of a legal fight between the administration and federal worker unions, which took emergency action earlier this month to stop the latest wave of terminations.
While the unions secured a victory last week in the form of a temporary restraining order against the new firings, the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court has repeatedly proven willing to permit large-scale job cuts that labor unions and legal experts say are patently illegal and dangerous.
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Tara Zuardo, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Monday that the newly revealed administration push to terminate dozens of staffers at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is “really sad and troubling.” The court filings show that the administration has proposed eliminating positions at the FWS Migratory Birds Program, Office of Conservation Investment, Fish and Aquatic Conservation, National Wildlife Refuge System, and other areas.
“The Trump administration’s extremely short-sighted effort to gut the Fish and Wildlife Service will throw gasoline on the raging fire that is the extinction crisis,” said Zuardo. “We’ve lost 3 billion birds since 1970, yet the administration is slashing funding for migratory birds. It’s incredibly cynical to cut programs that help struggling fish and other aquatic animals and assist landowners in conserving endangered species habitats.”
The latest firing push is part of the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to terminate thousands of jobs at the US Interior Department, which oversees FWS.
The attempted terminations come months after the Trump administration issued a proposal that would eviscerate habitat protections for endangered species in the United States — a push that closely aligns with the far-right Project 2025 agenda. More than 150,000 Americans used the public comment process to express opposition to the Trump administration’s plan.
The Center for Biological Diversity said Monday that the proposed mass elimination of jobs at FWS would “deliver devastating blows to programs put in place to protect, restore, and conserve bird populations and their habitats.”
“Court disclosures also report severe cuts to additional agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Geological Survey, and others,” the group noted.
Trump is aiming to stifle and defund nonprofits.
Progressive nonprofits are the latest target caught in Trump’s crosshairs. With the aim of eliminating political opposition, Trump and his sycophants are working to curb government funding, constrain private foundations, and even cut tax-exempt status from organizations he dislikes.
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https://truthout.org/articles/trump-plot-amid-shutdown-will-throw-gasoline-on-extinction-crisis-critics-say/
