Life as a federal worker is a roller coaster ride, park ranger says

Marinell Chandler is back at work with the National Park Service in Alaska after being laid off in February, offered a university job in March, given a chance to return as a seasonal employee, and then getting rehired full time as a result of a federal court order.

Yet the emotional roller coaster the 33-year-old park ranger has been riding for two months over a job she has cherished for a decade still hasn’t come to a secure halt. A cloud hangs over her job after a Supreme Court ruling this month effectively opened the door to being laid off again. The high court paused a federal judge’s order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired probationary employees at six federal agencies, including the Interior Department, which runs the Park Service.

Chandler works at the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks, which serves as a jumping-off point for visitors to national parks and preserves in the northernmost reaches of the United States. If the administration chooses to once again dismiss the estimated 16,000 federal workers it laid off in February, Chandler’s dream job could end in a nightmare.

“It’s really scary, because I had to make a really difficult decision between job security and the job that I loved, and I chose to come back because being a park ranger has always been my dream job, and what I’ve wanted to do with the rest of my life,” Chandler said by phone. “But I’ll be honest, it felt a bit like family. I’m going to be a park ranger again and serve the public and serve our parks and be a federal employee, because I never would have left this job if I had a choice.”

Chandler’s story reflects the experience of tens of thousands of federal employees since President Donald Trump took office in January, as his administration campaigns to slash the bureaucracy through firings, buyouts and demands meant to force people out.

A Louisiana native with a degree in environmental science from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, Chandler became an intern at Alaska’s Denali National Park and Preserve in the spring of 2014, and was hired as a seasonal employee at the park a year later.

She soon became a full-time employee and moved up the ladder to the highest level of park ranger in 2023, putting her in a two-year probationary period and in turn making her a target of the administration’s move against probationary workers.

She was notified about her dismissal in February through a “generic” email that didn’t include the name of any Park Service official, Chandler said. “It basically said that my knowledge, skills and abilities no longer served the department’s needs, and thus I was being terminated effective immediately,” she said, adding that she had been cited for “exemplary service” on all her previous evaluations.

The news was devastating, but Chandler began searching for jobs and was offered a position in animal research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. At the same time, when Chandler went to the Park Service office to complete her offboarding, the supervisor said she could apply for her former post on a seasonal basis.

“Now I have to make what feels like a really impossible decision between an agency and a mission and a job that I loved and something that at this point feels safer,” she said.

While she was mulling her decision, news came that U.S. District Judge William Alsup in the Northern District of California ordered the reinstatement of 16,000 fired probationary employees at Interior and five other federal agencies.

“I was reinstated to my previous position, and they basically erased the record of my termination, as if it never happened,” Chandler said.

She was among many who came back.

“Almost every single person that I know of that lost their jobs chose to go back to their jobs,” she said. “And I think that speaks volumes about the dedication of Park Service employees.”

Yet the attrition continues at a federal agency that manages the 63 national parks and 370 other units visited by millions of Americans, a record pace in recent years. As many as 2,500 Park Service employees, or about an eighth of the usual workforce, have been forced out or taken buyouts so far this year, threatening both the quality of visitor experiences and the ability to maintain the nation’s “crown jewels,” say advocates for the park system.

“The administration’s relentless attacks are crushing the Park Service,” said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, a century-old advocacy group with 1.6 million members.

“Park staff are constantly questioning whether they will be able to perform — or even keep — their jobs,” Brengel said in a news release after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum this month offered more buyouts to Park Service staff even as he ordered no reductions in services without specific approval from Washington.

“Who will care for our national parks if they keep pushing out staff?” she asked.

A Park Service spokesman responded via email. “It’s not unusual or unique to this year for questions to come up about staffing or for the staffing needs to fluctuate,” the spokesman said. “As in other years, we are working hard to make it another great year for visitors. We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks.”