Some of Nevada’s recently fired federal employees who manage the country’s biggest reservoir and the state’s only national park may soon be heading back to work.
The news comes after a federal judge issued a March 13 preliminary injunction that ordered agencies to reinstate probationary employees who had been fired. Trump administration officials have since blasted the judge’s decision, officially appealing the order and accusing him of abusing the power of the judiciary.
Aviva O’Neil, executive director of the Great Basin National Park Foundation nonprofit, said all five rangers who lost their jobs in Baker were offered them back. At least four are committed to returning. The foundation had shelled out $25,000 to give those rangers temporary roles at the nonprofit in the interim.
“It’s a big win for the park to regain these front-line, visitor-service-oriented employees,” O’Neil said in an interview Friday. “It’s great for morale for the park to feel some temporary confidence with being able to plan to welcome visitors this season.”
A park ranger told the Las Vegas Review-Journal at the time that search and rescue response times could multiply with a reduction in staff. The park’s famous Lehman Caves tours remain only available on a walk-up basis, not able to be reserved in advance of a visit.
One of the 13 or so fired employees who worked at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, speaking anonymously for fear of retribution, said all were offered their roles back. The employee, who accepted the offer to return and will begin Monday, wasn’t certain how many others had accepted the park service’s offer as of Friday.
The National Park Service and the Interior Department have refused to answer questions about personnel matters and haven’t responded to a pending records request for a list of probationary employees who were fired. A group of rangers, who call themselves the Resistance Rangers, crowdsourced information about park service firings, listing 13 confirmed roles that were eliminated at Lake Mead.
Executive branch battles judiciary
The senior judge behind the injunction driving the rehirings is William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Affected agencies include the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense and Treasury departments. The National Park Service falls under the Interior Department.
“It is sad, a sad day, when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie. That should not have been done in our country,” Alsup said before issuing the injunction from his bench.
Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump’s press secretary, vowed they would fight the injunction in court and alleged that Alsup was trying to unjustly thwart the president’s agenda of cutting waste in federal spending.
News reports from across the country later revealed that the Trump administration was immediately placing reinstated workers on administrative leave, something Alsup believed was a way to undermine the order.
The federal government responded Tuesday, clarifying that the leave was part of a structured process to fully reinstate probationary employees. Officials added they would provide a full update to the court about the status of employees next Friday.
O’Neil, of the Great Basin National Park Foundation, said uncertainty abounds regarding staffing at the country’s national parks.
With a permanent employee hiring freeze in place in favor of seasonal workers and impending reductions in staffing regardless of how the court case plays out, O’Neil said it’s harder now to retain talented staff.
“People that are going into these fields are doing it because they really love what they do,” she said. “They really care about protecting and preserving the resource as well as sharing it with people. You don’t do it for the money. Adding on top of that a whole lot of extra stress is certainly not going to make it easier to recruit.”
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
