This is a new series – Sacrificed for ‘Savings’ … in which we are showcasing the true impact of the Trump-Musk purge of federal employees via DOGE, by allowing those affected to tell their stories in their own words. Angela Moxley was a dedicated civil servant of the National Park Service. She was one of about 1,000 NPS staff terminated on Valentine’s Day. Here she is … in her own words:
“I don’t know what the future holds, but I will continue fighting for myself, my family, my colleagues, the American public, and our parks.”
On Friday, at 6:47 p.m., after I had gone home for the day from my position with the National Park Service (NPS), I received an email on my work computer that I was being “separated from federal service” because I have “failed to demonstrate fitness or qualification for continued employment.” I had been waiting for the email, because six of my colleagues had already received theirs.
I had earned a high performance rating at my annual evaluation, I was recently asked to serve on a subject matter expert hiring panel, and my supervisor disagrees with the decision and didn’t have anything to do with it.
As a career conditional employee of the NPS, I had just 10 days to go until the end of my probation period. My only rights are to appeal based on a claim that the decision was motivated by partisan political purposes or marital status. I cannot make a claim based on unfounded statements about my performance.
200,000 federal workers have been let go as part of the Valentine’s Day Probationary Purge. It’s just the tip of the iceberg for what is planned. Huge cuts are imminent and my former park’s staff could be slashed to just a small core.
READ MORE FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNTS FROM CIVIL SERVANTS FIRED BY DOGE
I can’t even begin to fathom how these actions will reverberate throughout all corners of our society. But I do have a pretty good idea what will happen to our national parks – America’s best idea. Without staff, the National Park Service will be unable to carry out its 100-plus-year mandate to leave the parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. This is a mission that my colleagues and I take seriously. We work for far less pay than we could in the private sector, and we spend many, many years working our way up the career ladder because we are passionate about serving our country by protecting public lands.
Yes there will be long lines at the parks’ fee booths, closed visitor centers, overflowing toilets, and poop on the trails, but there will also be severely impaired natural and cultural resources. This is happening at a time when we need public lands more than ever, to provide breathing room and landscape connectivity for wildlife who are losing habitat everywhere, to protect rare species, to preserve biodiversity, and to provide everyone with a measure of resilience in the face of climate change. The benefits that our parks provide are irreplaceable.
Working for the National Park Service has been a dream job, a hard-fought new beginning after I left a previous career in journalism almost 10 years ago. I don’t know what the future holds, but I will continue fighting for myself, my family, my colleagues, the American public, and our parks.
Call your senators and representative, support the National Parks Conservation Association and friends groups of national parks such as Harpers Ferry Park Association, and mobilize your networks. We cannot win if we do not fight back.
3 Comments
I am so sorry for your loss of your job. I hope when all the dust clears all the National park employees get their positions back or better positions .
Sorry, but a career “conditional employee” still on probation sounds like a recent, par time new hire not an integral employee. I don’t like anyone to lose their job, but this is exactly the kind of waste that America must reduce. We are literally drowning in debt and government employees of any type need to be providing a true service to be on the payroll.
I was a part of the Valentine Day Firing at GWCA. I am still in shock of what happened to the people who loved what they were doing tat the National Parks.
I pray the people who lost their jobs will find peace with what has happened.