Fired Fish and Wildlife worker on why canceled projects were critical to environment and the economy

Elon Musk said earlier this week that remote workers need to return to their offices or risk losing their jobs. Many federal workers were already fired before that directive was issued, including 420 probationary workers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who were still within a one-year ‘review’ period.

Among those fired was an employee who said he wasn’t probationary, having worked in another government agency for 3 years before Fish and Wildlife. He’s contesting his dismissal.

He requested anonymity because he fears reprisal as he appeals his dismissal, but he wanted people to know about the critical work federal employees are doing. Plus, he said, remote work makes sense – economic and logistic – for many federal workers.

“I’ll work with people in 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 states and with many different organizations,” he said. “Nonprofits and universities, so there’s not like one place for me to sit.”

He adds that a cubicle for him to work in-office  — 80 minutes from his home — would cost taxpayers about $30,000 a year, which is neither saving money nor creating efficiency.

He noted he and others in the Fisheries Service are not preserving fish and wildlife “for the sake of it,” but instead as a resource for the nation. That includes releasing 128 million fish annually, which benefits commercial and recreational fishermen.

And then, he said, there’s the preservation of collapsing fish stocks is also important work, he said, noting that the northwest salmon population is the world’s only remaining viable wild salmon. “That’s in part because of the work we do,” he said.

In terms of monitoring workers’ activities and engagement at work, he said every megabyte, every keystroke is logged, including emails which, “depending on your job get archived for 20 years.”

He wants people to know that many federal workers have put their lives and hearts into their work. “I’m like a huge Mr. Rogers fan, and that sounds silly,” he said. “But you know, he would talk about, ‘If there’s something scary happening, like look for the helpers, right?’ That’s something he took to heart.”

“I always wanted to make my country a better place and I wanted to serve my community. And most federal workers? That’s what we want to do,” he said.

In the preamble of the Constitution, the worker said that the reference to the “union” in “the right to form a more perfect union” is the government and “it’s made up of us.”

“And the other thing we want to protect is our lands.” He adds that the United States has the “most beautiful places on Earth,” and it’s incumbent on us to preserve and use those lands responsibly for future generations.

He said the work federal employees perform is transparent, adding that every federal grant is listed at USA.gov.

The fired worker also said that the letters of dismissal he and others received noted poor performance. To the contrary, he said he received several performance awards and was nominated for Employee of the Year as well.

He’s also heartbroken by the institutional knowledge that’s being lost with the firings, something he said will reverberate for years to come.

Now, he and his family are making tough decisions on what’s next. He had been making $76,000 annually, but that is now gone. As is his health insurance — it will cost him about $1,500 per month out of pocket to cover his family of four, which includes two young daughters.

The family was also in the process of buying a home after losing their former home and possessions in a fire last year. His daughters, he said, “were really looking forward to having a permanent home,” but that might not be possible without a job to secure the necessary loans.

In the end, though, he said it doesn’t help to get upset. He recently told his daughter, “Hard things happen. But even if we had a fire every year, and even if I get fired every year, we would still be the luckiest people in the world, right? Because we’re together and we’re okay and healthy.”

He added, “In a way, this is part of the reason I felt like I have to say something. They need to see me doing something, right … So truly, all I want to do is help people.”