The Trump administration’s extensive reductions to the federal workforce are taking a toll on the nation’s only wildlife refuge specifically designated for threatened manatees.  

 

At Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, Brier Ryver had just wrapped up a day of educating five dozen schoolchildren on the importance of Florida’s natural habitats along the shores of Kings Bay when troubling rumors began circulating.  

 

Word spread that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—responsible for managing the country’s only dedicated manatee refuge—could soon face job cuts. Ryver, who had joined the refuge as a park ranger in April, was deeply concerned. The small team of eight full-time employees was already stretched thin, overseeing 32,000 acres of wildlife refuges along Florida’s Gulf Coast. With hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, they managed everything from issuing permits and rescuing manatees to coordinating volunteers and conducting community outreach. Any staffing reductions would put immense pressure on an already overburdened team.  

 

Being a Florida park ranger had been Ryver’s dream job. Having helped keep the refuge operational through back-to-back hurricanes, Ryver collected months of stellar performance reviews and commendations from supervisors in hopes of securing their position. But the next day, Ryver joined a conference call with hundreds of other federal wildlife staff—only to learn they were all being laid off.  

 

Ryver was one of two full-time employees—representing a quarter of the refuge’s workforce—dismissed as part of the Trump administration’s initiative to cut federal jobs deemed “wasteful.” Also laid off was Emily Jung, who oversaw visitor services. Across the Interior Department, approximately 2,300 employees had been let go in recent days.  

 

“I want people to understand that we mattered,” said Ryver, 26. “We were working hard to do what we believed was right—connecting people to nature and protecting this refuge. It was not wasteful.”