PRESS STATEMENT: New Mexico Wild Stands in Solidarity with Federal Employees
Contacts: Mark Allison, Executive Director, mark@nmwild.org, 505-239-0906
Bjorn Fredrickson, Conservation Director, bjorn@nmwild.org, 206-372-5608
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 14, 2025
Disturbing news broke yesterday that the Trump Administration abruptly and unjustifiably fired thousands of federal employees. This builds on arbitrary firings that have already occurred, with credible rumors of more firings to come.
The vast majority of federal employees embark on this career path to honorably serve the American people. Their work is essential to a wide array of services and benefits that we all enjoy. Federal employees are our neighbors and community members, and these unjustified firings will harm countless people, families, and communities. In a state like New Mexico, federal jobs in rural communities provide significant contributions to the well-being of local economies.
In the context of the federal land management agencies, public servants who work for the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Park Service, and other agencies are integral to the management and protection of our public lands, fish and wildlife refuges, national forests, national parks and preserves, and waters. Communities in New Mexico will acutely feel these deep and unjustified workforce reductions, which over time will almost certainly result in the closure of recreation sites; the loss of trail access; reductions in protections for safe, clean drinking water, air quality, wildlife habitat, and cultural sites; and the loss of capacity to prevent wildfires and conduct fuels and restoration projects that are designed to keep our communities safe from catastrophic fire.
New Mexico Wild and our thousands of members across the state stand in solidarity with these public servants and call on the Trump Administration to rescind these firings and work to strengthen, not dismantle, the federal civil service and the benefits that it brings to all of us.
For additional information or to further discuss the potential impacts on New Mexico’s public lands and communities, please contact Mark Allison or Bjorn Fredrickson.
