Donald Trump’s blitz on federal science agencies has increased the risk of endangered species going extinct, fired government experts have warned.
The new administration, and its so-called “department of government efficiency”, led by the billionaire Elon Musk, has fired thousands of employees at science agencies, with funding halted at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Nick Gladstone, a cave biologist for nearly a decade, was a lead recovery biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for 15 federally endangered cave and subterranean invertebrates – including rare beetles and spiders – in central Texas. He is one of more than 400 probationary employees fired at the agency this month.
“Without my position filled, these species will be neglected for years to come,” Gladstone said. He said his firing left these species, among the most at risk under the Endangered Species Act, in particular danger due to the difficulty in finding and protecting them as their habitats face threats from development.
“These are classic ‘canary in the coalmine’ species,” said Gladstone, who noted their condition was an indicator of the relative integrity of subterranean systems connected to the Edwards Aquifer, the sole water source for more than 2 million Texans. “I’m deeply disheartened and worried that future conservation efforts for these animals will cease.”
Staffers in charge of recovery for the endangered black-footed ferret have also been fired by the Trump administration, among other scientists, and funds for recovery have been frozen.
Project 2025, the rightwing manifesto published ahead of last year’s election, argued the Endangered Species Act had a “dismal” record and claimed it impeded economic development, calling for the delisting of the gray wolf and grizzly bear.
While a termination letter claimed that Gladstone’s “knowledge, skills and abilities” did not meet the department’s needs, his supervisor stated at a recent performance review that they had “never experienced a new employee completing what Nick accomplished in his first few months on the job”. He had worked for the service since May 2024.
“There is an enormous amount that needs to be done in order to adequately protect these species, and even my role was insufficient in keeping up with it all,” said Gladstone.
His story is not unique. A wildlife biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Washington DC, whose role included improving efficiency for environmental reviews related to endangered species, said most of their department was fired as probationary employees. They lost their job, too.
“We’ve been understaffed. We don’t have the funding to get the work done we need,” the biologist said. “And then, when we try to improve and get species to a recovery species so they are no longer listed [as endangered], it feels like all those efforts to get to recovery have been halted and set back.”
The situation “feels really hopeless”, they added. “It is baffling to me, because so many people literally take these jobs because they care about the mission, they want to serve people, the land we live on, we want to protect, especially in my agency, species and natural resources.”
Scientists working to address climate change and protect US food systems have also had their work halted with firings.
“The work I do in particular is really indispensable,” said a climate adaptation scientist with the US Geological Survey, who was fired as a probationary employee earlier this month. “We’re not in a time where we can slow-roll climate research. We were focused on how the climate is changing and conducting scenario planning and forecasting to better use our resources.
“None of the work they have done here in cutting positions left and right, with no considerations whether these people can adapt to the policies of this administration, or to the amount of effort it took to hire these people, and likely for some to get rehired, it is just promoting more government waste.”
The federal government’s scientific operation was “just being gutted”, the scientist said. “We are going to fall behind other countries. This isn’t the sort of thing you can pause or cut … It’s not something that can be privatized. It’s a wildly inefficient endeavor to do that requires consistent investment over decades, building teams and knowledge. It’s essentially washing away any of the incentives for people to devote their careers and lives for the betterment of society.”
The office of special counsel has determined some of the firings of probationary employees carried out by the Trump administration are unlawful and has requested some employees be reinstated with backpay, turning over enforcement to the Merit Systems Protection Board and requesting a 45-day stay of the firings.
“The Trump administration has interfered with life-saving medical research and meetings on cancer, vaccines, antibiotic resistance and more,” said Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. “They have pulled funding for job-boosting technology initiatives and are working hard to fire civil servants who, for example, enforce laws that protect us from air and water pollution.
“In addition, the Trump administration is burying information that the US public has paid for and demolishing government functions we all depend on.”
US Fish and Wildlife, the US Geological Survey and US Department of Agriculture did not respond to requests for comment.