Feb. 14 began like any other day for Buffalo National River Ranger Stacy Ramsey. She was assessing the signs around the park, noting ones that were in need of replacement.
“And I had made my way through the lower district that day, which was Friday the 14th,” Ramsey said. “Been to Rush and Dillards Ferry, Buffalo Point. And I was just just down at Spring Creek. Just had gotten down there. I took the pictures of the sign, the sun had came out. So I was like, ‘Oh, it's so nice out with the sun shining.’ And noticed on my phone like that a email notification had popped up, and the email notification had the word termination in it.”
That word immediately caught her attention. Ramsey is a federal employee and knew losing her job was a possibility. There had been discussion surrounding layoffs as the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency rifled through the federal workforce and attempted to restructure government operations. She had declined a previous offer from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to resign and have her contract bought out because Ramsey thought her position was safe.
“I honestly did not think that my job would be affected or cut,” she said. “I work in the Law Enforcement Division of the park, so I play a role in public safety. So, you know, I thought just for those reasons, that my job wouldn't wouldn't be one of those affected. So getting that termination message completely caught me off guard.”
Ramsey then had to travel from Spring Creek to the BNR headquarters in Harrison.
“So I had a lot of time to think on on the trip to headquarters, she said “Most of the trip was spent telling myself, ‘Don't cry,’ you know, ‘Just be stoic. Don't cry when you get there,’ you know, ‘It's going to be okay,’ just preparing myself, you know.
"But then I got there, and I was the first of the four employees who had been terminated to arrive, I found everyone in the conference room, or actually in the superintendent's office, and all of the division chiefs were there. And like I said, I had the entire trip to Harrison. I told myself, ‘Don't cry, don't get upset.’ But when I walked in, there was so much sadness in the room. They were– I could just feel the sadness like radiating from them. And they were all telling me how sorry they were. They were in tears– Some of them were in tears. So, of course, I can't handle people feeling sorry for me. So that brought me to tears. So it was, it was a really, really tough afternoon.”
That Friday, Feb. 14, OPM sent out a memo that directed government agencies to terminate employees with probationary status. Ramsey was one of roughly 20,000 people who lost their jobs that day. And even though Ramsey was on probation, that just means she had been a full-time employee for less than a year. In fact, she was quickly approaching the end of her probationary period and had worked at the Buffalo National River for nearly five years as a part-time and seasonal employee.
Her full-time role was an important job, too, for her and the park.
“So in the position of river ranger, I feel like I'm, you know, out on the front line,” Ramsey said. “I'm looking out for public safety. If I see anything that law enforcement needs to be aware of, I relay that information. And one of the most important parts of the job is providing preventive search and rescue education. So that involves talking to people that come to the park that may be unprepared or unaware of hazards and risks associated with whatever activity it is that they're getting into, whether that be floating the river, hiking the trails.
"So I'm there to, you know, make them aware of any dangers. During the busy season. I spend the days on the gravel bar. So I'll be at the boat launches, the busiest areas, talking to people, making sure they have their life jackets, making sure that the children that are in a group are wearing their life jackets, answering a lot of questions, just making them, making sure everyone's going to have a safe trip.”
But because she had that probationary status, she and three other BNR employees were fired. Ramsey said she’s not sure how the park will operate without these team members.
One of the terminated positions was park guide, who is responsible for overseeing operations at the Buffalo Point Visitor Center. The employee had been hired in January, and her firing left a critical gap in park operations. Ramsey said that the employee was the only staff member at the center, and her termination led to its closure while officials work to reassign staff. As of yesterday, March 5, the visitor center is still closed.
Another eliminated position was the fee collector for the upper district, which had also been filled just two months ago. The employee was the sole fee collector for the upper district, which includes around six campgrounds. Her responsibilities involved traveling to each site to collect fees, making it a vital position. With her departure, Ramsey said officials now need to determine how to manage fee collection in her absence.
The final person terminated was in maintenance.
“We are short-staffed in maintenance as a result of two of the maintenance employees taking the resignation off the offer,” Ramsey said. “In the Middle District, which is the Tyler Bend, Gilbert, Grinders Ferry area, there were five maintenance positions. Two of those resigned, and then that left three the supervisor and two maintenance employees. One of those maintenance employees was terminated, so that leaves a supervisor and one maintenance employee to cover all of that area, which is, I would think, impossible to do.”
Ramsey is from the area. She grew up in Marshall, just miles from the Buffalo, going to the river frequently as a child and into adulthood. She said she loves the Buffalo National River and wants to spend her life there.
However, many federal employees didn’t find dream jobs in their backyards. Seth Price had just moved from Arkansas to South Dakota for what he thought was a stable career in federal service. After spending months securing a position as a geographer with the US Geological Survey, undergoing background checks, medical exams and relocating, he started the job in January. Just one month later, he was fired.
“I mean, a big part of it was like I knew that my partner and I knew this was a calculated risk, I suppose,” Price said, “but I'd received a lot of assurances from various people, and people in my agency, in my center, that the USGS wasn't likely to be a target, because they don't do policy and they do work that is important for a lot of different people. I mean, it's used but for environmental stuff, but it's also used for military petroleum and all kinds of different things, because we're just making maps, basically, but kind of shock and like helplessness, not really knowing what to do next, I suppose. Like, oh, we're in a new state now, and we don't really– we’re kind of stranded here in a new lease, and we spent a lot of money to do this, and now we're here. So what do we do now?”
Price’s experience mirrored Ramsey’s. He similarly received an email informing him of his termination on Feb. 14, except he received an early warning from his superiors.
“So I was able to at least download all my documents and everything, because a lot of people were getting locked out of the system before they could get their personal paperwork,” he said. “A lot of people were receiving emails, and then a few minutes later, they were locked out of their computer, basically. And so luckily, I had some forewarning.”
And this paperwork isn’t subject matter documents like maps or spreadsheets.
“It's all my personal documentation,” Price said. “It's stuff that I need to apply for unemployment and benefits and things like that. I think the key part here is it's stuff that if I want to pursue any legal action or class action suits. It's stuff that I will need to, like, kind of prove my point, I suppose.
"For me, I wasn't there long enough to get any, for instance, previous performance reviews, but a lot of people were being banned before they could download their previous performance reviews, which demonstrates they were doing good work. Yeah. So it seems pretty purposeful that people were being denied from getting documentation that could be used in legal action against them. I think is a big key part of it.”
Even though Price hadn’t received official reviews on his work from superiors, his termination letter still cited “performance issues,” a claim he said is false.
“I was told by my higher-ups and the people I work with that I was doing exceptional work, but they were being forbidden from providing performance reviews or referrals to us to prove that,” Price said.
Price’s and his colleagues' termination may have lasting consequences for multiple facets of the public and private sectors. His work involved geospatial mapping for environmental monitoring, disaster response and military applications. Plus, Price said it takes three to five months and about $30,000 to hire and train a new federal employee.
“So they went through all that for me, probably spent about $30,000, and then I was just let go,” Price said. “And I think– What I heard was that they're being allowed to rehire for one out of every four positions that were let go. That's what I heard from the agency is that. So I expect it to just not be filled in then, for them to be scrambling now, but it's hard to tell how much that'll affect them, because next month, all of the new funding comes up, and I suspect a lot of those programs fundings are going to get pretty severely cut or eliminated.”
Projects like essential flood risk and environmental monitoring may be delayed or canceled. Price said the quality and availability of nationwide geospatial data will likely suffer.
“I mean we, we weren't doing anything policy-wise,” he said. “We were just making geographic geospatial– I mean, we were doing satellite imagery and different maps and things like that that were just used for whatever anyone needed, and they were widespread. They're the most common mapping products used in the country for pretty much everything.”
Stacy Ramsey remains hopeful that she can return to the National Park Service, though the current hiring freeze makes that uncertain. She said it’s her passion for protecting the Buffalo National River and its visitors that drives her.
“This is home to me, and I feel a deep connection to the river and to the people that come visit the river, and I feel like it's almost a calling to be there to keep those visitors safe,” Ramsey said. “So I actually have a master's in education, and I have some teaching experience. I've managed a work center for adults with disabilities for a while, and I've even had opportunities to apply for positions within the park that are more secure positions.
"But I really, really love what I do. I really love being out there and looking out for the visitors that are there and looking out for the park. I've spent a lot of time this winter actually helping some of the great volunteers that come and do river cleanups. So we've been on the river a few times this winter, pulling tires, picking up trash. So yeah, I really care about the river and care about the people that come to visit, and that keeps me in that position.”
Meanwhile, Seth Price is shifting away from federal employment for now. While he had pursued a USGS career for stability and public service, the mass layoffs changed his perspective. He is now exploring private sector and nonprofit opportunities while considering legal action over the way terminations were handled.
They are just a couple of thousands of federal workers who remain uncertain about their futures. And the future is equally uncertain. The Trump administration's approach to culling the federal workforce faces legal challenges.
Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the mass firing of probationary federal workers is illegal and should be halted. Additionally, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) revised its memo regarding the termination of probationary employees, clarifying that individual agencies, not the OPM, are responsible for such actions.
As agencies navigate these directives and struggle with staffing shortages and hiring freezes, the broader questions remain: What happens when the government loses its scientists, rangers, and essential workers? And what should the people left behind do now?
