A fired national park ranger lost his dream job. He says the public is losing more

Brian Gibbs lost his job as a national park ranger on Friday.

He was working as an environmental educator at the Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa. It was his “dream job,” he wrote in a widely shared post on Facebook. The monument is the site of mounds made of earth, built by ancient Native Americans, that form shapes of animals.

The 41-year-old father learned of his termination on Valentine’s Day. “I am absolutely heartbroken and completely devastated,” he wrote.

Gibbs is one of about 1,000 National Park Service employees who were fired this past week. Parks advocates say the layoffs could leave national parks understaffed going into a busy spring break.

The recent cuts to the federal workforce, which target probationary workers, are part of a plan by President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk to shrink federal spending.

In the federal government, a probationary worker is often a newly hired employee who is put on a “probationary” period — typically for one or two years — before they may be hired into full-time status. They are subject to higher scrutiny during that period. Probationary workers also include people who were recently moved or promoted into new positions.

Gibbs, who was eight months into a yearlong probationary period, said he was locked out of his work email before he could back up his government records, and before a formal termination letter hit his inbox.

Performance-wise, he said he’s only ever received high marks in supervisor evaluations of his work as a ranger at the Effigy Mounds.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a nonpartisan advocacy group for the country’s national parks system, called the downsizing “reckless” and a decision that could have “serious public safety and health consequences” — for example, if the staff losses include wastewater treatment operators.

The NPS did not immediately respond to NPR’s questions about the decisions that went into the recent firings.

Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves remnants of ancient Native American culture

The monument was designated in 1949 and protects and preserves over 200 sacred, prehistoric Native American ceremonial and burial mounds.

Human remains have been found in some mounds while others “also functioned as territory markers and as multi-purpose ceremonial places,” according to the NPS. They were built somewhere between the years 650 and 1200. Mounds have been found most commonly in the shapes of “birds, bear, deer, bison, lynx, turtle, panther or water spirit,” the NPS says.

Gibbs is grieving for the park — and what it and other parks may lose as a result of the staff cuts.

“You’re losing people that are keeping the bathrooms clean, the trails maintained. You’re losing people who are teaching youth the value of protecting and preserving these places for current and future generations,” Gibbs said. “I’m very scared that some of these smaller monuments may be forced to shut down their visitor centers or operate like there was a government shutdown, which would mean very, very few personnel.”

He worries about the potential for looting, destruction and littering.

As education technician with the park, Gibbs gave guided hikes, teaching visitors about climate change and how to interact with wildlife safely. He would also visit classrooms to teach students how to be good custodians of the parks. Because the park was already short-staffed before the recent cuts, he said, he wore many hats.

The park holds a lot of meaning for him in his personal life, as well.

“This has always been home for me, ever since my dad took me on a road trip to come explore this area of Iowa,” he said. “It’s the first place I told my spouse that I loved her. It’s the first park that I took my son to.”

He’s fearful that, for the second time in less than five years, he may have to uproot his family. A previous job at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point was eliminated due to COVID-19 budget shortfalls and lack of program revenue. Both job losses have come while his wife was pregnant; this time it’s with their second child.

Gibbs said he’ll have to find another job to support his growing family, but jobs that involve teaching the public about the environment are limited. “I have a wide skill set but this is my passion,” he said.

But he said the public will ultimately be the ones who will lose the most from these layoffs — costing them “education and awareness and value of our public spaces that are so part of the democratic idea.”