Trump Administration's Federal Job Cuts Threaten Everglades Restoration in South Florida

The Trump administration has cut dozens of federal jobs in South Florida, including scientists and rangers at Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.
Environmental advocates are concerned that the cuts will hamper the multi-billion dollar Everglades restoration project, which relies on federal funding and expertise.
The cuts have also raised concerns about the future of other federally managed lands in south Florida, including national wildlife refuges and parks.

South Florida has lost than more two dozen federal rangers and scientists in the past week or so as the Donald Trump administration continues to slash what it says are wasteful jobs.

Now environmental advocates are worried the multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade Everglades restoration may be in jeopardy.

"We have confirmed at least 27 positions at the Big Cypress National Preserve and the national parks (in south Florida)," said Eve Samples, director of Friends of the Everglades. "And there is evidence that the cuts that have already occurred will hamper the Everglades restoration."

The cuts include several scientists at Everglades National Park's Natural Resources Center, which was established in 1978.

The office conducts much of the federal science that is used to guide Everglades restoration projects.

Now people like Samples are worried about the overall restoration and future funding commitments from the federal government.

"About half of those scientist are gone," Samples said of the Everglades National Park experts. "Those scientists were in tune with the Everglades restoration and their science guides the way we look at the Everglades."

Samples said there are even concerns about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its ability to continue Everglades projects.

"The civil service employees do a lot of the science work (for the Army Corps)," Samples said. "We have a massive public investment in Everglades restoration and these cuts could put this huge taxpayer investment at risk. It could be very counterproductive."

The Everglades restoration is a 50-50 cost-share project between the state of Florida and the Army Corps.

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The Army Corps is a key player in all Everglades operations as the agency is over the management of Lake Okeechobee and freshwater releases to coastal areas like Fort Myers and Cape Coral.

Army Corps spokesman John P. Rebello said the agency was aware of the push to remove federal positions.

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District is aware of the initiative but have not received notification to release probationary employees at this time, and thus (we) can’t speculate," Rebello said in an email. "Our commitment to serving the nation and her citizens remains as unwavering as it has for the past 250 years."

Places like Everglades National Park and the Big Cypress National Wildlife Refuge contain some of the most unique landscapes in our nation, millions of acres of truly wild lands.

"What we're seeing is staff level cuts, but we don't know where cuts are going to be made in the future," said Matthew Schwartz, director of the South Florida Wildlands Association. "I could see where the Everglades restoration could be on the cutting board."

Schwartz sees a park system that's on the brink, and he says the positions cut were solely to help the very rich get even richer.

The very concept of a National Park Service is to ensure that practically anyone can visit these special places at a modest cost and see some of America's magical landscapes, he said.

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"Right now I'm furious because they do a tax cut and the vast majority of the people who benefit are the wealthiest of the wealthy," Schwartz said. "They're using these cuts to federal employees in these rare unique places to fund tax cuts so the people who have the most can get more."

He said the National Park Service needs back all the recently fired positions, and that NPS needs to fill vacant position, not fire people.

"They're turning around and giving these people tax cuts who don't need tax cuts, and these are the kinds of services we want taxes to go to," Schwartz said. "These are fragile places and when you look at the size of the national park complex, it's gigantic."

National Park Service support groups are also concerned that places like the Everglades may lose part of their appeal due to a lack of funding for management and key positions.

"It's impacting all of our parks for sure," said Cara Capp, spokeswoman for the National Parks Conservation Association. "We're also waiting for the other shoe to drop because this may not be a one-time firing situation. There may be more firings coming."

Southwest Florida is also home to federal preserves like J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, and the Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Island National Wildlife Refuge in Collier County.

The News-Press and Naples Daily News reached out to the National Park Service, "Ding" Darling, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park and received no comment on the situation.

Capp and others worry the lost positions will lead to a degraded experience for park users and a loss of ecological function for places like Everglades National Park.

There are also concerns that the current cuts may impacts the multi-billion-dollar, multi-generational Everglades restoration, which started in 2000 and should be complete in a decade or so, according to current plans.

Capp said the rangers who were lost performed duties like wildfire management and ecological restoration work.

"It's really a huge loss to have lost some of these senior people," Capps said. "These are fire rangers who do prescribed burns and wildfire management, and we're seeing more and more problems in the Everglades because of lack of water flow."