Ten archaeologists from the National Park Service’s Southeast Regional Office were fired on Valentine’s Day. The archaeologist was notified via email that he had been let go because he “didn’t demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment.” For historical and cultural sites analysis of all national parks in nine southeastern states.
A group of Southeastern Regional Archaeologists at the National Park Service must begin digging themselves from the deeper careers of President Donald Trump’s budget cuts plunged into them.
Up until Valentine’s Day, 10 archaeologists served national parks spread across nine southeastern states, a large area that includes all states south and east of the Mississippi River except West Virginia.
They are one of the 1,000 National Park Service full-time employees who lost their jobs when Trump signed an executive order to significantly reduce the size of his federal workforce. It forced them to rethink the lives of public services. Tuesday was their last job. They showed up at the Tallahassee office wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt and a college sweatshirt, packed the office and waited for a separate interview with the Division Manager.
Most people came to Florida from other states and were together within a year to begin their careers. When others noticed the visitors in the middle of them they flashed a smile that a friend would use to convey the pain, but they thought it was okay.
On Friday, an email arrived from Lena McDowall, assistant director of administration and management at the U.S. Department of Interior, saying that she was unable to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for ongoing employment. The department is beyond the National Park Service.
They said the statement accidentally hit the fired archaeologists as harsh, they said. According to Max Cameron, one of the fired archaeologists, all who were let go were rated “outstanding” or “exceeded expectations” in their final performance rating. Requests for comment are pending to a National Park Service spokesman.
Some fired National Park Service employees have indicated they would appeal the shooting. The White House said shootings are one way to reduce unnecessary government spending. The fired employee said the sudden firing had been thrown into a confused state of financial, professional and personal uncertainty.
And environmentalists and other park advocates have said that staffing lack has led to improvements such as filling pot holes, removing molds from toilets, providing park rangers and guides in the spring and summer seasons. I’m afraid to delay it.
Furthermore, archaeology is particularly important for parks. The NPS Southeast Archaeological Centre (SEAC) in Tallahassee is a repository of all collected and analyzed materials in all national parks in nine states.
Before construction, renovation or land interference progresses, staff will search the site for remote sensing tools, ground penetration radars, and ground conducting equipment for artifacts. Potential sediments of artifacts must be identified before the first shovel breaks the ground. The Archaeological Resources Conservation Act of 1979 is a felony of disrupting the land on which evidence of human activity of historical and/or cultural significance arises.
Cameron is primarily one of a group of recent graduates, all of whom have masters degrees, and in his mid- to late 20s, he has been a archaeologist here from New York, Missouri, Missouri, California, in the past year. I was taking on the job.
Cameron said it would cost at least $2,000 to break the lease. He was three months away from completing his probationary period, which had been finalising the appointment of civil servants and providing employment protection. On Saturday, the Syracuse University alumni made an 18-hour drive back to New York, where he misses the next move.
The sudden termination of approximately 200,000 federal workers on probation status has resulted in many fired archaeologists rethinking their careers with the federal government. Cameron hears that archaeologists working in the private sector can make up to $10 per hour more than what he was making at Park Services.
“But I enjoy what I do, and I enjoy educating the public, so perhaps I’m going to stick to public archaeology,” Cameron said. said.
Until this week, Cameron was an archaeologist for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s renovation project in his birthplace of Atlanta. .
When Hurricane Ida exposed civil war-era cannons on the Gulf Islands National Coast in 2021, Park Service archaeologists mapped the boundaries of deposits where the cannons were stored.
Last year, archaeologists were part of a feasibility study of the National Heritage of the Kentucky Wildlands, identifying 35 counties for inclusion in the National Heritage Area System.
And this year they were preparing for the seawall replacement project at Castilo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, the oldest masonry fort in North America. Minimal decorated lobby displays SEAC archaeologists display and interact with survey results with over 12,000 people each year through schools, summer camps, local jamborees and local festivals.
“It’s really cool and great work,” said one of the fired employees. “But this is brutal. It sucks.”
The employees interviewed and several others asked not to be named because of fear of putting employment opportunities at risk.
The group spent what four of them described as an idiotic week at Limbo. After Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday, they said there was a lack of information about their fate, making uncertainty nearly impossible.
Several details began to appear on social media about people who lost their jobs last Wednesday. The next day, a forest department biologist posted that he had been let go. For Cameron, this post was like a bell to suck his fate.
“I knew then that if the Forest Service guys were being let go, the Park Service wouldn’t be that late,” he said.
On Friday, staff were summoned to the online Microsoft Team Conference. They were told to clean up the office by Tuesday. A staff member was then sent an email confirming the end.
The firing is part of the whirlwind. Within 12 months, some completed their advanced degrees in historical archaeology, moved across the country, began his historical research and analysis of the site, and suddenly, it all ended. did.
Tim White House, executive director of nonprofit civil servants for environmental responsibility, told the New York Times that cutting staff at National Park Services “is not going to save the government any money.”
“We’re breaking down our parks, demoralizing people who work very hard with almost money and turning the government into a hostile place,” he said.
The newly unemployed archaeologist – carrying vases, desk lamps and postal boxes filled with photographs – is reflected in how many seem to be pleased with the cut.
Workers said 17 archaeologists and staff were working at a Tallahassee field office on Monday. Since Tuesday, only seven remained.
“My parents retired here, so I did this job,” said the fired archaeologist. “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now.”
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James Cole is a member of the USA Today Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be contacted at jcall @tallahassee.com and is on x as @caltallahassee.
