National Park ranger in Iowa among thousands fired Friday: 'Is this really happening?'
An Iowan was among 1,000 National Park Services employees unexpectedly fired on Valentine's Day.
Brian Gibbs' Facebook post announcing his sudden departure garnered more than 73,000 reactions, over 11,000 comments and 180,000 shares — something the former Effigy Mounds education park ranger didn't expect but knew was a story he needed to tell.
"My life every day is that I put on the green and gray. That is who I have been the past year," Gibbs said in an interview. "Long term, I'm not sure what's next."
The fired National Parks Service members are part of President Donald Trump's efforts to shrink the federal workforce. The National Parks Service has yet to officially announce the layoffs. The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment from the Register, part of the Paste BN Network.
The 1,000 workers are roughly 5% of the NPS workforce, which employs more than 20,000 people, according to the NPS website.
The announcement came alongside approval from the Trump administration to begin hiring 5,000 seasonal workers even though federal hiring had just been put on a freeze.
"Unfortunately, today’s cuts will leave parks understaffed, facing tough decisions about operating hours, public safety and resource protection," a release from the National Parks Conservation Association said Friday.
'Threatening emails' had National Park Services employees waiting for news
Gibbs, 41, and other NPS employees knew there was something big coming — they'd gotten "threatening emails" that had come down the chain about potential layoffs — but they didn't know when.
"We had a 10 a.m. meeting (on Friday, Feb. 14), and (Gibbs' supervisor) said that there could be cuts coming to probationary employees," Gibbs said. "We didn't know the exact number."
"All day Friday, it's just like, 'Well, what am I?' Gibbs said. "I'm like, 'Is this really happening?'"
Gibbs, who grew up in Boone, was locked out of his email during his Feb. 14 shift, not knowing whether he was among the thousands of workers fired. His supervisor confirmed his dismissal later that day.
"Without any type of formal notice, my position was ripped out from out under my feet at 4 p.m. on a cold snowy Friday," Gibbs wrote in his posts on social media. "Before I could fully print off my government records, I was locked out of my email and unable to access my personal and professional records."
The email, obtained by the Register, contradicted what had earlier been told to Gibbs about his "excellent performance," stating:
"The Department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the Department's current needs, and it is necessary to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment..."
A native Iowan dedicated to the National Parks
Gibbs, who lives in Elkader, has worked with the National Park Services seasonally for years — from Glacier National Park in Montana to northeastern Iowa. He said working for the National Park Services was his dream job.
"I knew that I wanted to work outdoors for a really long time," Gibbs told the Register in a phone interview Sunday. "That was instilled by my father taking me to state parks and national parks, and my mom taking me outdoors a lot as a kid."
This is the second time Gibbs' position has been eliminated within the past five years — the first was at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, as a programs manager at the natural resources field station in 2020 amidst budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He took the job at Effigy Mounds in northeast Iowa as another chance to pursue his dream of working with nature.
Effigy Mounds is a national monument situated along the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin border in the small town of Harpers Ferry. The location is known as one of the most picturesque areas of Iowa in the Upper Mississippi River Valley.
"This was, you know, it's truly been my dream, dream position," Gibbs said. "I grew up in Boone and you know, this area was the first place my dad took me to on camping trips. I fell in love with the area at a young age. It's the first place that I told my spouse that I love her... It's a sacred spot."
Pikes Peak State Park, just south of the Effigy Mounds, made the list of the 100 most breathtaking views in America in 2024.
Gibbs said he was the 'voice for American Indian cultures'
The Mounds, which were declared a national monument in 1949 by then-President Harry Truman, were built in the Late Woodland Period, 1400-750 B.P., in the shapes of birds, bears, deer, bison, lynx, turtles, panthers or water spirit, according to the National Park Service website. The bear and the bird shapes are the most prominent mounds in northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin.
The Mounds, built for burial and ceremonial purposes, are associated with 20 American Indian tribes, including the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa.
Gibbs said he was the "voice for American Indian cultures," the "protector of 2500-year-old American Indian burial and ceremonial mounds," and the "defender of your public lands and waters," according to his Facebook announcement.
Herbert Hoover's birthplace, and parts of the Lewis and Clark and the Mormon Pioneer Trails are the only other places in Iowa overseen by the National Park Service.
Two NPS employees laid off at Effigy Mounds
Gibbs told the Register that one other employee at Effigy Mounds was fired Friday. He said the cuts will increase the strain on a short-staffed park. Only eight employees, including the superintendent, maintenance and other service roles, work at the national monument.
The Effigy Mounds visitor center had to close because of staffing shortages, Gibbs told the Register.
"These dedicated civil servants that, you know, exceeded expectations, are being fired," Gibbs said. "They just all of a sudden determined that they weren't of fitness or quality, or that their programs didn't matter."
Gibbs, who was not even a year into his full-time service as a park ranger, was "exceeding expectations," according to a recent employee appraisal done for probationary employees.
He and his wife Emily, parents of a four-year-old son, Oliver, who is also an NPS junior ranger, have a baby on the way. They are now dealing with the reality of Gibbs losing his job.
"There's a lot of people being impacted," Gibbs said. "I'm directly impacted. I'm losing my insurance. My spouse is expecting to bring our second child into the world in June, so we have to navigate that realm of transitioning."
The Boone native has a website dedicated to his nature photography, Timberdoodlephotography.com while he also writes for outdoor magazines. He is taking time to process losing his dream job and how to navigate the road ahead
"I honestly have no idea," Gibbs said. "We had to relocate before, and that was traumatizing during COVID, but it also gave us resiliency, and we recognize that, and we will resist, we will persist, but I am really worried about having to leave my homeland, my community here."