The scientist had made Florida beaches resilient to hurricanes. Doge fired him.

As thousands of Floridians fled the beach community before Hurricane Helen, Michael Slattery rushed towards them.

At the last hour before Tampa Bay’s worst storm in a century, Slatarrie was located deep in the sand on a drilling pressure sensor at Madeira Beach.

Data collected from these devices helped local governments, first responders, and the public to better understand how hurricane storm surges threaten lowland coastal cities, including Pinellas County.

A team of scientists from the US Geological Survey, including Slattery, helped to accurately predict that Pinellas’ beaches would be washed by surges and sent thousands of pounds of sand to homes and businesses.

Slatary, a professor at the University of Tampa with 20 years of scientific research experience, was fired on February 14 amid a vast push to cut the federal workforce.

He is on the growth list of rangers, scientists and wildlife shelter workers in fired parks within the US internal division dedicated to Florida’s natural space and human locations within it. Over 2,000 departmental workers have been fired in recent weeks.

“I love my job, I love the team I worked with and I felt like I was actually making a difference and making progress,” said Slattery, 44.

Slattery was working with several county officials, state experts and condo associations to improve the agency’s forecasting tools that give emergency officials a six-day head start to predict how impending hurricanes will damage the beach community.

He also had a better understanding of how Sand Key Beach and Madeira Beach will change over time, and worked with Florida Key partners to conduct coastal surveys to better predict how coral reefs will affect storm surges.

Slattery said he was approached by a supervisor on February 14th.

“You’re going to be fired,” he remembers she told him. “I don’t know why this is happening. I don’t know why you’re fired.”

The agency was asked to provide a list of employees during his recently hired probation period, so Slattery’s name was on it with a warning that he was essential to the team of scientists. He left his nearly ten years as a professor of marine science in August, working on a job in US geological surveys, wanting to connect the public with the latest coastal science.

To further confuse the issue, Slattery’s four-year status was funded by Congress in response to the landing of Hurricane Ian in southwest Florida, according to 2022 Congressional Budget Records. Slattery said the money was distributed to the accounts allocated for his employment. Slattery said his annual salary funds of $67,000 could not be retracted or reassigned nails or reallocations.

“I don’t think anyone would argue that government should not be as efficient as possible. But there’s a difference between voluntary firing of people and actually going through the process of determining where inefficiencies are actually,” Slattery said.

A few days after he was fired, Slattery was scheduled to investigate the monthly beach erosion assessment at Madeira Beach, which usually brings a team of two scientists. He is not sure if the investigation has been completed.

In Slattery’s firing letter, the Ministry of Home Affairs’ operations director wrote, “He was fired based on performance because he was unable to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment. However, performance reviews from his direct supervisor shared with the Tampa Bay Times tell a different story.

“Michael’s performance in supporting the Science Center this year is outstanding,” his boss wrote in a review. Slattery took the “extra initiative” and was a natural leader who exceeded expectations. Other Home Office employees, including Park Rangers, Florida’s only wildlife sanctuary, were also fired despite a sparkling performance rating.

After Slattery was fired, his supervisor sent documents to his personal email to prove he had not been let go of his performance.

“We realized what you’re doing for us, and it made me incredibly sad and frustrating to lose you as a valuable part of our team,” his supervisor wrote in an email on February 20th. A department spokesperson said he would not comment on personnel issues.

Slattery is worried that in his firing letter the language could prevent him from qualifying for unemployment funds from the state, or can land another job. He will appeal the agency’s decision. After a judge suspended federal layoffs last week, the White House said it would ultimately be up to government agencies to fire trial employees.

Advocacy groups are calling on the Trump administration to revive fired employees.

Kathy Caster, a Democrat who represents Tampa Bay, said mass shootings of employees like Slattery are “wasteful” and could potentially kill.

“Neighbors are trying to rebuild from a series of hurricanes, but that’s not easy,” Caster said in a statement in The Times. “Indiscriminately firing workers who hold the responsibility of protecting our coastal communities is shortsighted, and will keep us safe and take our lives.”

Slattery has already submitted a handful of applications for engineering, geology and data jobs. But he says he misses being a bridge between the scientific community and the public.

Two weeks after he was fired, Slattery headed to Madeira Beach, where he intended to carry out the beach investigation he had planned.

In the back seat of his car there was a remnant of a dream job: a computer stand, an old calendar, a book on coastal dynamics.