"A Facebook post from Springer Fyrberg, a wildlife refuge specialist with Hakalau, said all the employees who lost their jobs were in the probationary period for federal workers and do not have civil service protection."
"They were hired within the last two years."
I think it's only fair to see Springer Fryberg's ENTIRE Facebook post, don't you think?
And Federal Workers are considered probationary for ONE year, of which, all of the 400 fired employees were.
Springer Fryberg's ENTIRE Facebook post:
Musk fired half our field staff today.
At 6am I was told every probationary employee in the US Fish & Wildlife Service was being fired. Over 400 of my coworkers, about 10% of the staff in a tiny bureau that protects tiny, precious populations of endangered species….and vast acreage preserved for the enjoyment of the American people.
They were fired without cause, easy pickings because, as probationary employees in their first year at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they did not have as many protections from arbitrary firing as more senior staff. It didn’t matter that they are among the lowest paid and the hardest working people in the federal service, that they give their heart and soul, blood and sweat daily to protect Hawaii’s endangered species, protect vast expanses of forest, cultural resources, to be part of a place that hosts hundreds of bird watchers and volunteers annually. That they live apart from their families week after week, go out into freezing rain and blazing sun, lugging rolls of hogwire or chainsaws or fence posts through the forest. That they were 5 or 6 weeks away from their one year mark, if you don’t count the year or two of low-paid internships, and years of college they invested in first.
It didn’t matter that they are part of an agency that brings in more money than it spends.
But their work matters! When I was their age you couldn’t stroll along the grassy roads at Hakalau and spot an ‘akiapola’au or an ‘alawi—they were hidden deep in the forest, solitary, not flocking amid 12,000 acres of planted koa.
Three years ago feral pigs were boldly digging up the driveway in front of the refuge cabins—this week we couldn’t find any fresh pig sign anywhere in the 1700 acre fenced unit! Two years ago these same staff, as interns, laid out our first rodent control grid, to save mama birds and their eggs from predation. A year ago our greenhouse lay in ruins. Today it is filling up with tray after tray of seedling koa, mamane, ohia…rapidly being turned over to volunteers, lovingly being planted, valiantly growing into mighty, oxygen-producing homes for wildlife, and respite for world-weary humans. Our seed banks were becoming stocked with native seeds, our hillsides stripped of pyrogenic invasive gorse…ready for the next devastating fire. Visiting school groups got to experience a legacy we owe to them—to hear the voices of Hawaiian forest birds, touch and see and smell an intact native forest. For nearly a year, we were approaching the level of staffing we needed to manage the refuge…well,…efficiently.
This summer, if you head to a national park or wildlife refuge or national forest or BLM campground and things don’t look top shape…if you have to wait in long lines or are denied a permit or find the pit toilets overflowing…don’t blame the federal workers. We were already short-staffed, under-resourced and overworked. Now we’re also heartbroken.
For those asking for ways to help: https://friendsofhakalauforest.org
"They were hired within the last two years."
I think it's only fair to see Springer Fryberg's ENTIRE Facebook post, don't you think?
And Federal Workers are considered probationary for ONE year, of which, all of the 400 fired employees were.
Springer Fryberg's ENTIRE Facebook post:
Musk fired half our field staff today.
At 6am I was told every probationary employee in the US Fish & Wildlife Service was being fired. Over 400 of my coworkers, about 10% of the staff in a tiny bureau that protects tiny, precious populations of endangered species….and vast acreage preserved for the enjoyment of the American people.
They were fired without cause, easy pickings because, as probationary employees in their first year at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they did not have as many protections from arbitrary firing as more senior staff. It didn’t matter that they are among the lowest paid and the hardest working people in the federal service, that they give their heart and soul, blood and sweat daily to protect Hawaii’s endangered species, protect vast expanses of forest, cultural resources, to be part of a place that hosts hundreds of bird watchers and volunteers annually. That they live apart from their families week after week, go out into freezing rain and blazing sun, lugging rolls of hogwire or chainsaws or fence posts through the forest. That they were 5 or 6 weeks away from their one year mark, if you don’t count the year or two of low-paid internships, and years of college they invested in first.
It didn’t matter that they are part of an agency that brings in more money than it spends.
But their work matters! When I was their age you couldn’t stroll along the grassy roads at Hakalau and spot an ‘akiapola’au or an ‘alawi—they were hidden deep in the forest, solitary, not flocking amid 12,000 acres of planted koa.
Three years ago feral pigs were boldly digging up the driveway in front of the refuge cabins—this week we couldn’t find any fresh pig sign anywhere in the 1700 acre fenced unit! Two years ago these same staff, as interns, laid out our first rodent control grid, to save mama birds and their eggs from predation. A year ago our greenhouse lay in ruins. Today it is filling up with tray after tray of seedling koa, mamane, ohia…rapidly being turned over to volunteers, lovingly being planted, valiantly growing into mighty, oxygen-producing homes for wildlife, and respite for world-weary humans. Our seed banks were becoming stocked with native seeds, our hillsides stripped of pyrogenic invasive gorse…ready for the next devastating fire. Visiting school groups got to experience a legacy we owe to them—to hear the voices of Hawaiian forest birds, touch and see and smell an intact native forest. For nearly a year, we were approaching the level of staffing we needed to manage the refuge…well,…efficiently.
This summer, if you head to a national park or wildlife refuge or national forest or BLM campground and things don’t look top shape…if you have to wait in long lines or are denied a permit or find the pit toilets overflowing…don’t blame the federal workers. We were already short-staffed, under-resourced and overworked. Now we’re also heartbroken.
For those asking for ways to help: https://friendsofhakalauforest.org