On Feb. 11, President Donald Trump issued an executive order implementing the Department of Government Efficiency Workplace Optimization Initiative, consolidating federal workplaces and displacing workers nationwide, according to The Associated Press.

The executive order will decrease federal funds, laying off probationary employees who have been at their workplace for less than two years, according to ABC News.

ABC News said they gathered data from March 2024 indicating the order will affect approximately 150,000 federal employees. As a result, the National Park Service will cut roughly 10% of its employees, according to Bloomberg Law.

“Thousands of probationary employees have already been fired, and now the Republican administration is turning its attention to career officials with civil service protection,” the AP said.

The new order will directly affect federal workers including postal workers, lawyers, judges, political party workers and national park workers. These agencies will be forced to fire any probationary employee, according to the AP.

National Park Agencies union President Warner Vanderheuel said the Forest Service Council controls national forests and is responsible for the 20,000 union park rangers, saying as a result the National Park Service will disband roughly 3,400 of those employees.

“Warner Vanderheuel, president of the Forest Service Council, said employees that will remain with the agency include firefighters, law enforcement officers, meteorologists and bridge inspectors,” according to Bloomberg Law.

The probationary employees who will be cut include primarily people with disabilities, medical issues or veterans. These probationary employees received an email on Jan. 28, informing them they were fired, according to the Herald-Leader.

“The job cuts account for about 6% of the total U.S. Forest Service workforce and 5% of all National Park Service employees,” according to the Coal Valley News.

Seven of Kentucky’s national parks, including Cave Run and Red River Gorge Geological Area in the Cumberland District will be affected, according to the Herald-Leader.

Powell County Tourism Executive Director Pete Fingerson said 11 employees were covering the 182,694 acres of the Cumberland District. However, according to WKYT, only two rangers will be responsible for the area after the budget cuts.

With only two people responsible for over a hundred thousand acres, surrounding counties, such as Powell County, expect to see a drop in tourism due to unkept and understaffed parks, Fingerson said in an interview for WKYT.

“We need more staff and rangers out there, not less. We are going to see more issues with things like wildlife management, backcountry trash, picking up litter,” Fingerson said. “If a visitor comes here and sees there aren’t trails that are maintained and different things like that, it’s going to hinder their experience here.”

While a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service said to WKYT it is committed to preserving safety positions, Fingerson said he was concerned parks will no longer prioritize issues like litter or conservation.

According to LEX18, the budget cuts will affect not only the displaced workers but also every visitor from the surrounding towns.

In an interview with LEX18, Fingerson said that national parks are unsafe without conservation and trail maintenance. 

“If someone has an accident, there’s no one monitoring that,” Fingerson said. “It’s heartbreaking, it’s absolutely heartbreaking.”