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Hundreds of people gathered at Flagstaff City Hall on Monday to protest President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce -- which are impacting the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service across northern Arizona.

Though emphasizing public lands and the employees who manage them, the protest also served as an opportunity for people to voice their dissatisfaction with Musk’s unprecedented role in the new administration and in running the new Department of Government Efficiency and Trump’s sweeping uses of executive power in the first weeks of his term. Some carried signs that read “No Kings on Presidents� Day� -- a shared slogan for protests throughout the United States.

The protesters lined Route 66 from the corner of Humphreys Street almost all the way to Sitgreaves Street. Children and dogs played behind the lines of sign- and flag-waving demonstrators, and passing cars sounded a nearly continuous chorus of horns in support. But despite the show of unity and resistance, federal workers in attendance said they’re feeling sad, demoralized and frightened.

Across the U.S., federal agencies have started terminating thousands of "probationary" employees who are newer in their specific roles and have fewer job protections. These firings, which began with enticements to resign or retire and a freeze on new hiring, are part of a multipronged attempt to drastically reduce the size of the federal government’s workforce.

The Coconino National Forest fired about 16 probationary employees last week, and Grand Canyon National Park cut at least 10, according to current employees present at the protest.

Precise numbers of terminations are difficult to obtain as of press time.

Workers from multiple agencies said they didn’t know how many people had been fired beyond their immediate colleagues. One noted that even their supervisor “doesn’t have a concrete list� of who had been or might be terminated.

“Supposedly that’s coming,� they added.

“I don’t know anyone who really knows the full extent of the people who have been lost yet,� another person said.

(The majority of people interviewed for this article requested anonymity, because of fear of reprisals and/or agency restrictions on external communications.)

The "probationary" label can be misleading, one current National Park Service (NPS) employee pointed out. Federal employees often switch agencies or positions numerous times throughout their careers, particularly if they work in seasonal roles, and someone in a probationary period for a new position may in fact be highly experienced.

“It’s not just people who are getting started; it’s people who have really committed a lot of their life to this,� that employee said.

When those people are abruptly fired, the agencies lose significant practical knowledge and expertise accumulated over many years. The workers also lose their livelihoods.

Another NPS worker said, “Most people in our division are really passionate about the work that they do, and it’s not just a job, it’s a lifestyle.�

They were “incredibly devastated� by the firings, they said. “I spoke to my boss’s boss, and we were talking about next steps, but also sobbing on the phone together.�

Nicole Allen, the regional vice president for the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), said 3,400 probationary employees had been fired nationwide by the Forest Service.

“If you’re going to be fired on probationary period, it still needs to be for performance or conduct reasons,� Allen said.

Terminated employees had received generic notices of unsatisfactory performance without specific details or explanations, she said.

“Our union is working on a number of legal actions to stop what is currently happening and make it right for these employees,� she added.

The mass terminations, she said, are “unprecedented.� And although the firings have been confined to probationary employees thus far -- because they’re “an easy target,� Allen says -- she's concerned that more terminations could be coming, with even greater consequences for the region’s forests and parks.

“We have an incredible public lands system here,� she said, “and that could really cease to exist.�

Fears over fire season

Fear around wildfire preparedness and wildland firefighting was a major theme of the protest.

Public safety positions, including firefighting jobs and law enforcement roles, are supposed to be exempt from both the mass layoffs and the executive order freezing federal hiring. But that isn’t how it’s playing out in reality, according to some of the demonstrators.

“Even if they are exempt, there’s enough confusion that I know firsthand that it’s impacted people’s ability to hire,� a former federal firefighter said. Delays or uncertainty around the hiring process could “drastically impact who gets hired and their ability to be operationally effective this summer,� they added.

Logan, a NFFE member who asked to use only his first name, said, “They said there would be a public safety exemption, and I haven’t seen that.�

“I see it firsthand,� he continued. “I’ve spoken to some of the guys who are also NFFE members. They don’t know if they’re going to be able to staff a fire engine, when we should have three or four.�

Understaffing or delayed hiring could also affect agencies� ability to carry out preventative fire management strategies, such as prescribed burns or fuels reduction. That could lead to more destructive fires, a NPS employee pointed out: “It’s just a downward spiral.�

Multiple people pointed out that many Forest Service employees who are not employed full-time as firefighters nevertheless obtain certification as a wildland firefighter -- receiving their Incident Qualification Card, or “red card� -- and serve as a backup or auxiliary firefighting force in emergencies, expanding the agency’s capacity when it’s most needed.

“Whether you have ‘firefighter� in your job description or not, we all help,� Logan said. “We’re all red-carded, we help with forest closures, we put out fires, we do fire prevention patrols. Without that, I don’t know what Flagstaff looks like.�

This year’s dry winter has heightened fears of a particularly bad fire season for Flagstaff. The uncertain prospect of a diminished wildland firefighting capacity is further amplifying that fear.

Chip, a former Forest Service employee and wildland firefighter for over 30 years who attended the Feb. 17 protest wearing his old fire jacket and helmet and carrying a large American flag, said he was expecting “a big fire year� in 2025.

“If we don’t have any firefighters this summer, it’s going to be a pretty ugly fire season,� he said.

“If they’re going to cripple the Forest Service by all this [expletive],� he added, “neighborhoods, towns, all kinds of stuff’s going to burn up.�

A recent employee of the Coconino National Forest said, “God forbid a fire happens and they leave it to the privatized groups.� Although private contractors often assist government agencies with large wildfires, those companies aren’t anywhere close to being a replacement for the federal workforce, the employee said: “They’re not prepared for that kind of action.�

'A blow to the knee'

Besides the looming fear of a wildfire, attendees described other consequences for agencies, employees and employees� families.

“We’ll see how it goes,� said a former Coconino National Forest employee. “Hope and pray, but for the most part, it’s going to have a negative effect on everything. Bathrooms aren’t going to get cleaned, campsites aren’t going to get taken care of.�

Another protester said cuts to the Science and Resource Management division of Grand Canyon National Park could impact the ongoing replacement of the trans-canyon pipeline that supplies drinking water for the South Rim. The pipeline project requires environmental mitigation work, they said, but the division responsible for that work had been slashed to just two or three people.

Contract funds for conservation corps projects had also been frozen, they noted.

“We’re already understaffed. Losing people is kind of like a blow to the knee � It’s crippling,� another Grand Canyon employee said.

“We also lost a dispatcher, and we lost people from the fee booths as well,� a third Grand Canyon employee said.

They added: “The lines this Presidents Day weekend have been insane� -- all the way to Tusayan. “Now, it’s going to be even worse.�

The park’s dispatch center serves other NPS units across the region: Montezuma Castle National Monument, Tuzigoot National Monument, Montezuma’s Well, Tonto National Monument, Petroglyph National Monument and Pecos National Historical Park. It also provides dispatch services for the town of Tusayan and parts of Coconino County.

“If you have an emergency, you might not get help fast enough,� the employee said. “This is dark times."

An employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the firings were “going to have a huge impact on the way that we conduct our work.�

“We, more than anything, really want to focus on our work and be able to clean up toxic sites that pose a health risk to the environment, and to people and communities that live near them,� they said. “Instead, right now, we’re worried about our jobs, we’re worried about our colleagues that are being laid off, we’re worried about the future of our positions and what work we’re going to be able to do.�

One person who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture stressed that federal projects often involve multiple partners, from cities to counties to individual farmers or ranchers.

“A bunch of our projects are no longer functional without our probationary employees, and our funding has been frozen as well,� they said.

The downstream effects on all those project partners remains to be seen.

For seasonal workers, the hiring freeze has meant retracted job offers and the sudden elimination of a once-viable career path.

“You have these people who worked seasonal jobs for a long time, and they finally got the opportunity to get into a permanent position,� a current federal firefighter said. “And I’m sure that they started buying houses, and making bigger decisions like that.�

“I know people who bought houses based off of jobs that they got, and then the jobs are gone,� a longtime seasonal employee who’s worked for multiple federal agencies said. “People have just had their lives uprooted and ruined. It just sucks.�

They said they’d spent years “putting in a bunch of seasonal time to build a career � just in time for it all to be taken over,� and didn’t know what to do next.

“I’m just seeing how it shakes out,� they said. “At this point, I don’t even want to work for the federal government if this is what it represents.�

Another seasonal employee, who’d most recently worked for the Forest Service, said, “I’m going to try to find a job back in the food industry, probably, or maybe on the river. But it’s not certain.�

A current employee said her seasonal colleagues “don’t know what they’re going to do. They’re looking all over the place.� One, she said, might start substitute teaching. “There’s not great prospects.�

“I have a backup plan, and it’s working out for me,� one attendee noted. “But for the rest of the crew, I can’t say. I’m just worried and praying for them that they get through this.�

“I know people who’ve lost sleep, and who don’t eat, over this,� he added. “They say that there’s a lot of work in the private industry, but I don’t see it.�

DOGE disapprobation

Beyond their concerns for their colleagues and the lands they’ve stewarded, many attendees were fearful, angry and sad about the way Trump has granted sweeping decision-making authority to Musk’s pseudo-governmental DOGE.

“Nobody voted for Elon, nobody has confirmed Elon to any sort of position. The Constitution is very clear about how these powers are supposed to be delegated. It’s just unconstitutional,� one attendee and former federal employee said. “I don’t care what they have to say or think about it, it’s just unconstitutional.�

The cooperation of agency administrators with DOGE demands was frustrating, they said. “I understand that people are scared, and I understand that people are fearing for their jobs and their livelihoods, but it’s disappointing. And it’s disappointing that Congress isn’t doing anything. It just feels like all the guardrails are gone.�

Demonstrators said Musk and Trump’s rhetoric around “efficiency� was unfounded and disingenuous.

“Honestly, as a government employee, I can see that there are a lot of ways that we could make the government more efficient, and we should be looking at that,� one NPS employee said. “But in order to do that, you have to really look at it and surgically remove things. What we’ve seen so far is this shotgun approach.�

Mass firings, they said, have “nothing to do with a strategic plan of making the government more efficient.� Instead, they see it as removing people at random to “break the system� deliberately. 

The overall effect, one person said, was “hugely demoralizing.�

“It’s scary. It feels just � sort of surreal, too,� they added.

An employee of the U.S. Geological Service, another federal agency with a presence in Flagstaff, said, “Speaking personally � the general chaos and general confusion makes it to where doing your job is like � you either bury your head in the sand or you subject yourself to anxiety.�

“I think a lot of people are still grappling with what the long-term effects of this are going to be,� NFFE representative Allen said.

Another federal employee said simply, “I think it will be rough the next four years.�

A handful of demonstrators struck a more determined tone in the face of the political upheaval of the past month.

“We’re resolute. We miss our counterparts, we miss the camaraderie, but we’re committed to our mission, and we’ll do our best to fulfill it no matter what,� an employee of the United States Department of Agriculture said.

The public, they said, should know “that we are your next-door neighbors, and the services that we are providing benefit all of us, our communities, from the bottom up, from watershed protection to flood mitigation to wildfire management to crop production. We are here to serve.�

Former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez attended the protest, and said, “It’s great to see folks coming out and expressing their displeasure with the current president on Presidents Day.�

Nez noted that tribal communities like the Navajo Nation have a special relationship with the federal government, and that funding freezes and staffing cuts also had significant potential to affect Indigenous communities and their lands.

“Dollars come directly from the federal government to tribes. Now, many of the grants and the federal appropriations are being held in Washington D.C.,� he said.

“They’re playing mind games with a lot of folks and families throughout the country,� Nez continued. “There’s a lot of trauma, there’s a lot of anger.�

He appreciated the civil character of the protest, he said.

“We are showing that we need to hold our congressmen accountable � Eli Crane should be out here supporting these families,� he added.

Crane is the U.S. representative for Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of northern Arizona and the reservations of multiple tribes.

For at least one attendee, the protest brought a small measure of optimism.

“I’ve kind of lost � well, hope,� said Nancy Ryan, who carried a handwritten sign reading “Save Our Forests.� The political turmoil since the inauguration “just started becoming overwhelming,� she said. “And when I saw this, I thought, 'It just feels good,'� she added.

Public lands “are, I think, the epitome of the United States,� she said. “And I have spent so many days in national forests, and I love them.�

Seeing the crowd that gathered to show support for public lands and federal employees, and hearing the honks from passing cars, “I feel hopeful,� Ryan said.