Federal slash and burn is the wrong approach

The sign puts it direct and simply: “The Visitor Center is Temporarily Closed.”

The indefinite closure of the Cal S. Taggart Visitor Center for the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Center at Lovell is just one of a multitude of ramifications of the Trump Administration’s efforts to purge federal agencies of tens of thousands of employees, all part of a shortsighted effort to take an axe to agencies with little thought or oversight.

The reckless slashing is the work of the Department of Government Efficiency appointed by President Trump and run by billionaire Elon Musk and his unelected, unvetted army of young technicians given free rein to access all manner of personal records of millions of citizens.

It’s been terrifying for the mostly young federal workers who were on probationary status and were fired for no reason other than they were low-hanging fruit, easy picking for the slash and burn methods.

First came a purported buyout offer in the form of a deferred resignation proposal in which DOGE used threatening language in an attempt for force workers out. Then came the probationary employee purge that cost thousands their jobs. Now the remaining federal workers have to submit a weekly report to DOGE entitled “What did you do last week?” and list five tasks they performed during the week.

Federal employees had until Monday at 11:59 p.m. to respond or face termination.

So now millions of employees are submitting countless reports that must be reviewed by multiple supervisors and processed by the Office of Personnel Management. How is that even remotely efficient?

Among the federal employees being axed are some 1,000 National Park Service employees and 3,400 Forest Service employees.

Oh, and don’t forget the requirement that federal employees can no longer work remotely. The federal government actually saved millions of dollars by allowing workers to work from home rather than take up expensive office space. Now agencies are being forced to acquire more space because, you know, federal employees working remotely must be good for nothing slackers.

A few points to ponder: First, this slash and burn technique mostly affects the young, enthusiastic, up-and-coming workers who are – or were -- the future of federal agencies. These are young people who love their national parks and forests, who care deeply about the lands they manage. Who would want to take a federal job now? Well, that appears to be the desired result.

Second, these are people with families trying to pay a mortgage and make ends meet. These are families with health care needs, workers doing important jobs.

Third, morale is sinking to an all-time low as federal employees are being terrorized by the government they work for, even if they have survived the initial purge. They’re not even allowed to speak up and give their opinion about how this all might work better. They’re scared. What a great way to build loyalty and trust. It’s pitiful.

Now lest you brand us as supporting waste, fraud and abuse, we can all agree that there are ways to do things and ways to not. And taking a meat cleaver to the young, best and brightest is not the way to do it. It would be far better to come up with aggressive incentives and methods to weed out the dead wood, those hanging on until retirement and simply biding their time. Some of these folks are unproductive -- and expensive, to boot. We’ve seen a few over the years who have worked as superintendents at Bighorn Canyon, the wonderful Mike Tranel of a few years ago being a major exception.

It would also be wise to cut back truly redundant agencies and save taxpayer money. But again, that would take thoughtful planning and careful consideration. It’s far easier to whack away from the bottom.

And so here we are: visitor centers closing, research halted, maintenance work curtailed and more paper pushing to make employees prove that what they do week to week is valuable. It’s mindless and it’s destructive. And the truth is: far from being bloated, our national parks are actually understaffed. We know of workers at Bighorn Canyon doing the work of three or four positions.

Tourism and recreation is a huge part of the Wyoming economy, and it makes absolutely no sense to slash important agencies that support that economy into oblivion.

This is a direct plea to Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Rep. Harriet Hageman – themselves federal employees, though elected, to stop this madness before our parks, forests and other valuable components of our government like the National Institutes of Health are lost forever or greatly impaired. Give it some careful thought and support Wyoming.

(David Peck is publisher of the Lovell Chronicle, Greybull Standard and Basin Republican Rustler.  This editorial appeared in the Feb. 27 Chronicle.)