Interior Department plans to lay off over 2,000 employees

The U.S. Department of the Interior plans to lay off more than 2,000 employees, including hundreds of National Park Service (NPS) workers, according to a court filing submitted Monday in the Northern District of California.

The filing, part of an ongoing lawsuit involving federal employee unions, states that the department intends to cut 2,050 positions across 89 units. Rachel Borra, the department’s Chief Human Capital Officer since September 29, said the decision “predated” the ongoing government shutdown and was not connected to guidance recently issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) or the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

“These layoffs were under review before the shutdown began and are based on long-term restructuring plans,” Borra wrote in the declaration.

Cuts Across Multiple Agencies

The court documents reveal that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will see the largest share of reductions, with more than 470 employees set to lose their jobs. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to cut more than 140 workers, while the National Park Service is slated to lose more than 270 employees.

Of those NPS cuts, about 180 are concentrated in the Southeast, Northeast, and Pacific West regions — home to some of the nation’s most visited parks, including Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, and Yosemite.

The layoffs come at a time when national parks are already stretched thin. During the ongoing federal shutdown, most parks have technically remained open, but operations have been severely limited. At Yosemite National Park, visitor centers, ranger-led programs, and most maintenance activities have been suspended since early October.

Legal Battle Over Federal Layoffs

The layoffs are unfolding amid growing legal and political tension in Washington. Last Wednesday, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a temporary restraining order blocking layoffs tied directly to OMB guidance. The order came after several federal employee unions filed suit, alleging that the administration was using the shutdown as political leverage.

In her order, Judge Illston — an appointee of former President Bill Clinton — wrote that “the harms suffered by federal employees affected by these layoffs are having drastic and imminent public consequences.” She accused the administration of attempting to “fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party.”

The Justice Department, representing the administration, argued in a separate filing that the layoffs are “fiscally necessary” and part of a broader effort to streamline government operations during a period of budget uncertainty.

Growing Impact and Political Repercussions

The White House confirmed on October 10 that federal layoffs had already begun, with more than 4,100 employees reportedly dismissed as of that date. OMB Director Russell Vought later told conservative commentator Andrew Kolvet on The Charlie Kirk Show that as many as 10,000 federal workers could be laid off before the shutdown ends.

The Interior Department’s plan adds further strain to an already tense standoff between the administration and federal labor unions, who argue that the cuts will cripple public services and environmental protection efforts.

Union leaders have warned that reduced staffing in agencies like the NPS and Fish and Wildlife Service could delay critical conservation projects, reduce public safety in national parks, and slow permitting processes for energy and land management operations.

“The American people will feel the impact of these layoffs every time they visit a national park or depend on environmental oversight,” said one union spokesperson in a statement Monday. “These are not just numbers — they are park rangers, wildlife biologists, and land stewards who protect our shared heritage.”

What Comes Next

The temporary restraining order issued by Judge Illston will remain in effect until at least next week, when the court is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to issue a longer-term injunction. In the meantime, Interior Department officials have been ordered to pause any layoffs tied directly to OMB or OPM directives.

For now, thousands of federal workers remain in limbo — uncertain whether they’ll have jobs once the government reopens, or even before that.

As one NPS ranger at Shenandoah National Park put it, “We’re just trying to hold things together until someone in Washington remembers that these parks don’t run themselves.”