More than 5,800 workers left public lands jobs in eight Mountain West states last year, as a result of layoffs, retirements, reassignments or other departures, a new analysis found.
The numbers were compiled by Prospect Partners LLC and Hawk Eye Strategies, two firms made up of former federal employees, including Andrea Delgado, who was a deputy regional forester for the U.S. Forest Service in Colorado until last October.
She combed through public federal workforce data and found declines across agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Geological Survey.
“We're talking about engineers who keep trails, roads and bridges safe to travel on and hike on; the hydrologists who monitor snow pack and watersheds; biologists who track fish and wildlife,” Delgado said.
The drops in public lands workers in the Mountain West ranged from an 11% decline in Wyoming to a 26% loss in Colorado, compared to the number of employees in 2024.
“There may have been someone who in the Bureau of Land Management specifically understood a particular dam or a particular river, or someone within the [National] Park Service who is the expert on how wildfire worked in a particular valley,” said Bernie Kluger, who worked most recently at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
However, a portion of those workers – as many as a third in Colorado – may not have actually left the region. Instead, data indicates they’ve been reassigned to report directly to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The moves were part of a department reorganization last year, which moved thousands of human resources, information technology, finance and communications staff from separate agencies to the secretary’s office.
While those employees may still be located in the region, Kluger worries that reporting to Washington, D.C. will mean slower decision making and less flexibility in situations like wildfire response.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
