Take a drive down Merritt Island’s Black Point Wildlife Drive
There’s lots of birds and other wildlife to see during a drive down Black Point Wildlife Drive on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
Florida environmental treasures from Key West to the Forgotten Coast are losing caretakers as federal budget cuts reduce employees at wildlife refuges and national parks.
In Palm Beach County, the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge had three people fired this month, reducing an already anemic staff to watch over 145,200 acres of Everglades marsh and bald cypress swamp.
Michelle Hendricks, president of the Friends of Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, confirmed the cuts, which included a park ranger. An inquiry Monday to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was not returned.
“Our public lands, and our national commitment to the staffing of our public lands, has been really depleted greatly over the last several years,” Hendricks said. “And this latest cut is devastating. That’s the word I would use. This is a devastating turn of events.”
About 120 national wildlife refuge employees nationwide lost their jobs this month. That’s about 5% of the 2,300-person staff but comes on the heels of a 31% reduction over the past 15 years, according to the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
Florida has 29 national wildlife refuges, including the Indian River Lagoon’s Pelican Island, which was the first national refuge established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Only California and North Dakota have more refuges than Florida.
Refuges consider preservation of wildlife as the top priority.
Desirée Sorenson-Groves, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, said the refuge system nationally oversees 855 million acres of land, including 760 marine acres, with fewer employees than the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management.
She said she’s not sure how many full time employees are left at the Loxahatchee Refuge, but that it could be just a handful following the cuts and the loss of staff members who recently went to other jobs.
“We don’t think any land agency is overstaffed or overfunded,” Sorenson-Groves said. “But the refuge system doesn’t have any fat to cut.”
Florida’s national parks also suffered staff reductions levied this month by the Trump administration. Those include three positions at Biscayne National Park, one position at Big Cypress National Park and 12 positions at Everglades National Park, according to the Association of National Park Rangers.
Florida has 11 national parks. In 2023, more than 13 million people visited them, creating an economic boon of $1.4 billion to the economy, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Nationwide, the association estimates 1,000 park rangers who were in their probationary period were fired on Feb. 14. But long-term employees may also have lost jobs if they recently transferred to other positions and were by default considered on probationary status.
Across the country, national parks cut hours, cancelled tours and closed visitor centers in response to the firings
Saguaro National Park in Tucson announced that it was closing its two visitors centers on Mondays starting Feb. 24. At Yosemite National Park, officials announced they’re halting reservations for 577 coveted camping spots this summer. Effigy Mounds in Iowa said it’s closing its visitor center two days a week until the summer.
Online calendars for reservable tours in some parks show zero availability, a casualty of losing the rangers who led them. Carlsbad Caverns National Park has cancelled its guided tours, and announced that in March it will be ending self-guided tours.
Rick Mossman, president of the Association of National Park Rangers, said some areas of parks may be completely closed to protect visitors and park resources. Bathrooms may not be cleaned and there could be long lines to get into parks as many of the staff let go run the entrance stations.
There are also concerns that fewer rangers will allow for poachers to more easily infiltrate parks and kill or take wildlife.
“Based on what we’re seeing about the motives of some current elected and appointed officials, they are starving the parks of their budgets and staffing,” said Mossman, who fears there is a movement to privatize the parks. “It’s just a total knee jerk reaction by the administration to get rid of people.”
Judith LeBlanc, executive director of Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund, decried the job cuts across the board at the federal parks. She said the cuts will pile on to what has been “chronic underfunding” of national parks and monuments.
“We have never been able to receive the funding for the upkeep of the national parks and monuments,” she said.
Moreover, LeBlanc, a Boynton Beach resident, said the cuts will add to the damage being done to the natural areas from climate change. And she also worries that Native Americans will also be disproportionately impacted by staffing reductions since the federal government is their largest employer.
“At this moment, not only should there not be cuts but there should be additional resources that are allocated to protect these public lands which the federal government is charged with their safe keeping,” LeBlanc added.
Impacts could be felt sooner in the Sunshine State.
“The Everglades is a really special and nuanced place. You really need knowledgeable interpretation from park rangers to help you discover the wonder of what the place holds,” said Melissa Abdo, Sun Coast regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is the only intact remnant of the northern Everglades in Palm Beach County. It was established in 1951 and includes wet prairies, sloughs, a 400-acre cypress swamp, and about 47,000 tree islands.
Since December, two events in the Town of Palm Beach have celebrated the National Wildlife Refuge Association and its 50-year anniversary, including a December reception at the home of Lisa Swift and Richard Day, and a dinner, dance and auction that took place Jan. 24.
Other national wildlife refuges in South Florida include the Key Deer and Crocodile Lake refuges in Monroe County, the J.N. “Ding” Darling, and Matlacha Pass refuges in Lee County, and Collier County’s Florida Panther and Ten Thousand Islands sanctuary.
“Florida is a unique state when it comes to conservation,” Sorenson-Groves said. “The refuge system started in Florida, and the resources of Florida are why everyone wants to go there.”
Palm Beach Post editor Antonio Fins and USA Today reporter Trevor Hughes contributed to this story.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism: Subscribe today.
