Hawaii’s wildlife refuges, national parks feel sting of federal cuts

The Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kauai, with its historic lighthouse, attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year.

Many travel websites say it’s well worth the trek to Kauai’s northernmost tip for the refuge’s breathtaking vistas that provide a glimpse of one of the largest populations of nesting seabirds in the main Hawaiian islands.

Kilauea Point is closed for repairs through April 30, and cuts to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field personnel may present challenges upon its reopening.

The national refuge, one of three on Kauai, lost all four field staff members Feb. 14 as part of the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal employees.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slashed probationary positions across various divisions under the Department of the Interior, impacting the management and care of Hawaii’s most precious habitats, wildlife refuges for endangered species and national parks from Kauai to Hawaii Island.

They include the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey, which runs the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory that updates the public on locally generated earthquakes and eruptions.

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said the across-the-board firing of probationary employees was done in haste, without foresight and will cause lasting damage to communities in a letter urging Interior Department Secretary Douglas Burgum to reinstate the positions.

“Public land managers play a unique role in protecting ecosystems that impact myriad community serv­ices,” Hirono said. “While these services may not be well known to the general public, in Hawaii they are crystal clear as a result of being an island state.”

Hawaii has wildlife refuges statewide — from Kilauea Point on Kauai to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu and Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on Hawaii Island.

On Kauai, losses include a biologist and an employee responsible for controlling water flow for taro farms, Hirono said, which are prime habitat for endangered birds. Vacating this position could severely impact Hawaii’s taro production, which was valued at over $6 million as of 2021.

On Oahu, which has five refuges encompassing over 5,700 acres, at least two Fish and Wildlife Service staff were cut.

The exact number of Fish and Wildlife staff cuts statewide remains unknown, but sources said they have been across the board and include Honolulu-based employees responsible for reviewing environmental assessments and a statewide forest bird coordinator.

Hirono also said an employee responsible for preventing the introduction of brown tree snakes to Hawaii from Guam was fired. If introduced, the snakes could cause an estimated $1.7 billion worth of damage to the state annually.

“The termination of this position jeopardizes the millions of taxpayer dollars that have been invested over decades to keep the brown tree snake out of Hawaii,” she wrote.

Valentine’s Day notice

Eric Hamren, plant restoration lead at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on Hawaii Island, remembers well the day he and other field staff received an email notice that their positions would be terminated, effective immediately.

The notice, which was distributed to all probationary employees Feb. 14, read, “The Department has determined your knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the department’s current needs, and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

Hamren, who was just two months shy of finishing his probationary period, took the new position after working two years at the National Park Service.

The health of the rainforest at Hakalau on the upper slopes of Maunakea is not only vital for protecting endangered forest birds, but for the watershed and drinking water sources downstream and wildfire prevention.

Hakalau, established as a refuge in 1985, provides forest habitat for 29 critically endangered flora and fauna, including seven bird species and 20 plant species found nowhere else in the world. The work includes growing native trees in a nursery in Waimea, collecting native seeds and maintaining fences to keep hooved animals out of the restoration area.

“We had more than 1,000 plants up-potted,” Hamren said, referring to plants grown from seeds until they’re ready to place in a pot. “The goal is to grow 30,000 plants a year, and we were just getting things going … . Now it’s essentially on pause.”

Hakalau’s seed technician was also cut, he said, eliminating the person in charge of collecting native seeds for use in forest restoration and fire suppression efforts.

When fires spread up into forest land, they decimate native plants, which are replaced with more flammable, invasive grasses that make forests even more vulnerable to wildfires. Restoring the forests with natives helps to break that fire cycle, and the goal was to store seeds that would be ready to disperse immediately after wildfires.

In Hawaii, managing these habitats is essential to protecting endangered species, including native seabirds and forest birds, before they vanish forever, according to Noah Greenwald, endangered species director for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.

“They claim that this is somehow reducing fraud and waste,” Greenwald said, “but eliminating dedicated people who do critical work to conserve wildlife — nothing about that is fraud and waste.”

The national organization has filed Freedom of Information requests to determine exactly how many Fish and Wildlife Service employees across the U.S. have been cut in order to get a fuller picture of the damage and risks to wildlife refuges.

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, said she is also trying to get a handle on how many vital positions have been lost. She is collecting stories on the situation, including from those who want to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.

Cuts at national parks

The OPM and DOGE have also cut an undisclosed number of probationary employees from the National Park Service.

The NPS operates Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on Hawaii Island, Haleakala National Park on Maui and the USS Arizona Memorial and its visitor center at Pearl Harbor National Memorial, which are all among the state’s top visitor attractions.

In 2023, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park welcomed more than 1.62 million visitors, a nearly 2.5% increase from the previous year.

More than 1,000 NPS employees are said to have been laid off nationwide, sparking outrage and prompting protesters to display an upside-down American flag off El Capitan in California’s Yosemite National Park.

In a statement addressing staff cuts, the National Park Service said it is hiring seasonal workers “to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management. We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks.”

Tokuda said she has heard that 15 people had job offers with the Park Service rescinded.

“We have had an army on the ground doing their work every single day, making sure that our natural resources are protected, that people can safely come and visit our parks and our refuges,” Tokuda said. “The fact that we have not had an incident is a testament to their success. They work quietly in the background.”

These were employees who did outstanding work, she said, with performance reviews that reflected this.

Additionally, DOGE cut probationary employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the National Weather Service, Central Pacific Hurricane Center and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, among many other endeavors.

Support from nonprofits

Hawaii nonprofit groups are stepping in to keep important conservation work going.

The Friends of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge is fundraising a “stop-gap measure” to mitigate the impact of the staff losses, including for Hamren, so he can keep the plants growing at the nursery.

“We are in a race against time to stabilize and build up the populations of our rare Hawaiian forest birds,” said Debbie Anderson, president of the Friends of Hakalau in a statement. “These birds represent Hawaiian culture and heritage, play key roles in the forest ecosystem, and fill our days with beauty, birdsong, and inspiration.”

Hakalau is home to the akiapolaau, she said, a honeycreeper with an estimated remaining population of fewer than 2,000 individuals.

The Friends of Oahu National Wildlife Refuge is doing the same while seeking more members and donations.

“These last few weeks with freezing of federal funds and indiscriminate cutting of staff from all the refuges in the state has been devastating to the refuge system,” the group in a statement. “It has left projects without funding or adequate staffing.”

The complex was already working with lower-than-recommended staffing, it said, as well as aging equipment and inadequate supplies.

The nonprofit Friends of Kaua‘i Wildlife Refuges supports the three national wildlife refuges on that island by collecting donations that help underwrite a variety of programs, including habitat maintenance and restoration, visitor education, keiki field trips and rehabilitation of sick and injured birds.

A California federal judge has ruled the probationary firings by OPM were invalid, but what happens next remains to be seen.