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The Trump administration has ordered a comprehensive review of all 573 wildlife refuges and 71 fish hatcheries managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Critics say issuing the directive just before Christmas with initial reports due today, January 5, constitutes a deliberate attempt to bypass public scrutiny around an effort to justify dismantling the country's refuge system. The order was posted on a USFWS website but was not announced to the press.
The order specifically calls for the identification of “refuges or hatcheries established for a purpose that no longer aligns with the mission” of the agency and for “opportunities to achieve efficiencies in the areas of governance, oversight, and span of control”—language that experts say is a blueprint for public land sell-offs and more layoffs. The USFWS has already lost at least 18 percent of its staff under the second Trump administration.
“Anyone who has spent time in the corporate world knows that when leadership begins talking about 'achieving efficiencies,' it can only mean one thing: it’s time to start polishing your resume because layoffs are undoubtedly coming,” public lands reporter Christopher Keyes writes in Re:Public. Meanwhile, a former federal employee told columnist Wes Siler, “this very likely seems like coded language for identifying refuges and hatcheries to eliminate.”
The final review, due February 15, will include a “detailed narrative of the results of their review,” and a “list of actionable recommendations with associated necessary actions required for implementation.”
Top official's spouse profited from permit issued by Interior
Senior Interior Department official Karen Budd-Falen failed to disclose that her husband received a $3.5 million water-rights contract in 2018 from the developer of the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada, according to records obtained by the New York Times. The deal was inked during the first Trump administration, while Budd-Falen was the deputy solicitor responsible for wildlife. She returned to the agency last year and is now the associate deputy secretary, the third highest-ranking position at Interior. Federal ethics rules require disclosure of such potential conflicts, but Budd-Falen did not list the contract in her filings.
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We’re in uncharted territory now. The safeguards failed faster than anyone expected. Institutions that were supposed to absorb stress and hold the line collapsed under pressure. What remains is fragile, contested, and under constant assault.”
