{"id":455338,"date":"2025-12-18T10:32:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455338\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T10:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T10:32:18","slug":"u-s-fish-and-wildlife-sees-nearly-20-drop-in-staff-since-trump-took-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455338\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Fish and Wildlife sees nearly 20% drop in staff since Trump took office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 1,800 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees have left the agency in the last year, records obtained by conservation advocates find, as pressure mounted from President Donald Trump and his administration\u2019s policies meant to cut the federal workforce.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a loss of almost 20% of the service\u2019s staff, according to data obtained through a public records request by the nonprofit conservation group Center for Biological Diversity and shared with the Capital Chronicle. In April of 2025, the agency had 8,180 employees, the records show, compared to 9,960 a year prior.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.<\/p>\n

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff survey for Chesapeake logperch in Harford County, Maryland.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife \/ Oregon Capital Chronicle<\/p>\n

Oregon and Washington lost a combined 50 senior level scientists and staff in the past year, followed by California which lost 40, Florida which lost 20 and Hawaii which lost 10 senior staff. <\/p>\n

The result of these staff losses, especially the loss of senior experts, could imperil species already endangered across the country such as monarch butterflies and hellbender salamanders, according to Noah Greenwald, a director for the center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an agency that needs more resources to help endangered species and the places they live, not fewer,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cBy pushing biologists and other wildlife experts out of public service, Trump is inflicting enormous harm on some of America\u2019s most beloved creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the losses include senior level staff, indicating many took buyouts or early retirement offers from the administration that were meant to cut down the federal workforce, Greenwald said. Hiring freezes that have been challenged in court, but left agencies in limbo, have also played a role, according to Greenwald. <\/p>\n

Biologists made up a large portion of the staff losses. There are 530 fewer biologists at the agency after the Trump cuts and efforts to push people to resign or retire, Greenwald said \u2014 a decline sparking concern among conservation groups that the agency has less capacity to track endangered plants and animals and restore habitats. <\/p>\n

Trump officials plan to eliminate another 143 positions at the fish and wildlife service, according to court documents from a legal challenge<\/a> against the federal government brought by government employee unions and others. But the administration is blocked from issuing more cuts until Jan. 30 under an agreement between Democrats and Republicans to negotiate health care subsidies before voting on government spending.<\/p>\n

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Bluesky.<\/p>\n

This republished story<\/a> is part of OPB\u2019s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org\/partnerships<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 1,800 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees have left the agency in the last year, records obtained…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":455339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-455338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115740118366602053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}