Matthew Brodsky got his dream job in 2023.
As a wilderness ranger for the Tongass National Forest, he patrolled Tracy Arm Fjord by kayak in the summer season, monitoring environmental data and providing information to mariners and visitors aboard cruise ships.
But last week, Brodsky says he and other U.S. Forest Service staff in Juneau were called into a meeting.
“The bomb was dropped that nine people were getting fired that day in Juneau, and it was the first wave of, you know, an indefinite amount of waves,” Brodsky said. “And when it was all said and done, that basically every single probationary employee in the Forest Service was going to be fired for the exact same reason, which was poor performance.”
His termination letter arrived on Sunday. The letter from the Forest Service director of human resources in Washington, D.C. reads in part: “The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest.”
“Even knowing that was going to come, seeing that language show up, and knowing for a month that I’m probably going to lose my job, it didn’t really dampen how that read, and what a slap in the face that was to actually see it in writing from some person I’ve never met and who has no idea, like the work I’ve done, or my coworkers either,” he said.
Most federal employees must complete a one-year probationary period after they’re hired. But Brodsky was hired under a Forest Service program aimed at recruiting people already in Alaska that included a two-year probationary period. For him, that period ends in June. He says some of his coworkers had just a few weeks left in theirs. Many of them are now struggling with whether to stay in Juneau.
“I don’t want to leave this community,” he said. “I know people that probably will have to – a lot of young people who, you know, saw themselves living here and starting a life here, or they did start a life here … not just for Juneau, but for other communities around Alaska.”
Shortly after President Donald Trump took office last month, more than two million federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management offering full pay and benefits through September in return for their resignation.
Brodsky and many of his coworkers didn’t actually have access to the email when it was first sent out – they’re seasonal, and didn’t return to pay status until this month. Nationally, some federal employees have reported being fired even after accepting the offer, though the Trump Administration said Sunday that was a mistake.
Requests for information about the total number of firings within the Tongass region were directed to the Forest Service’s Washington, D.C. office, which has not responded to KTOO. But a local union representative said 124 Forest Service employees across the state had been terminated as of Tuesday.
According to a report from the Juneau Economic Development Council, Juneau had roughly 700 federal civilian employees as of 2023. In the Southeast region, more than 1,300 people were federally employed.
Across the state, about 15,000 people work for the federal government.
The layoffs weren’t limited to the Forest Service – the National Park Service and Federal Highway Administration were also affected. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees in Juneau have been told to expect layoffs too.
The anxiety Brodsky talked about doesn’t just affect workers on probation. Several federal employees shared their concerns with KTOO anonymously because they were afraid of losing their jobs.
One NOAA employee said the atmosphere at work is grim. He said the federal government’s actions show that probationary workers are being targeted regardless of their performance, and he doesn’t know who will be next.
“I didn’t really think that the administration would break the law in that way. So, yeah, the fear of that went from a scare tactic to more of a reality,” he said.
He said the unilateral decisions make federal workers like him feel powerless.
“I’m really sad for people who have lost their jobs, and I’m really sad for America … I don’t think this is what Americans wanted when they chose Trump as president, and don’t think anyone who’s making these decisions actually knows the impact, and that feels like a huge waste.”
Another federal employee in natural resources management said the threat of a layoff meant she had cut back on spending.
“I’ve spent close to 30 years serving my country and protecting the environment and thinking I was responsible and had a good plan, and now I don’t know if I can rely on that anymore, And I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said.
She called the emails from the federal government “emotional terrorism” and said she didn’t think it will end with federal employees.
“We’re the targets now, but I don’t even, I don’t know who it’ll be next,” she said. “Who would have ever thought that federal employees would be targeted as the enemy?”
In a social media statement on Friday, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski criticized the terminations, which her office estimated could be anywhere from dozens to more than a hundred.
“Many of these terminations will do more harm than good, stunting opportunities in Alaska and leaving holes in our communities,” the statement reads.
She wrote that she shared the administration’s goal of downsizing the government, but took issue with the execution.
“Indiscriminate workforce cuts aren’t efficient and won’t fix the federal budget, but they will hurt good people who have answered the call to public service to do important work for our nation.”
More than 500 people rallied against the layoffs and other Trump administration actions outside the Capitol in Juneau on Monday as part of nationwide protests. Among them were recently terminated federal workers, and federal workers who feared for their jobs.
One NOAA employee, who didn’t give her name because she is afraid of retaliation, said workers received an email over the weekend that said it is likely that all probationary employees in her office will be let go.
“Alaska has a lot of subsistence people that need to understand how their weather and their climate and their environment’s changing, and if we lose employees in NOAA, or we cut back NOAA’s power, they’re not going to have those services,” she said.
But the loss of federal workers in Juneau ripples out into the private sector, too. Especially for the approaching tourism season. Mike Hekkers, a local guide in the summers, said he’s upset about the layoffs.
“I’ve heard a lot of the staff at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center have lost their jobs or won’t be there. There’s going to be about 900,000 people coming to the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center area this summer, and there may be no services, nobody patrolling for bear issues, managing the buses and the taxis and the people.”
Looking around at the dispersing rally, he said it was great to see so many people outraged, even as a torrent of changes come from the Trump administration.
“It’s discouraging, but we’re going to keep fighting,” he said. “We’ll see what tomorrow brings, but I’m going to stay the course.”
Brodsky, the former wilderness ranger, says he has no plans to leave Juneau at the moment. He’s looking for other jobs, and he hopes he’ll find something he loves as much as the last one.
Are you a federal worker in Juneau? Share your perspective with KTOO.
