Utah’s largest land manager has lost employees from Salt Lake City to St. George since President Donald Trump took office, according to records obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Records show 55 employees have been fired, resigned or had job offers rescinded from the Bureau of Land Management in Utah since Jan. 20, though some may have been reinstated due to recent court rulings. They include engineers, park rangers, range technicians and more.
The BLM owns 22.8 million acres of land in Utah — nearly 42% of the state — and employed 952 Utahns in 2024, according to a report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. The agency is tasked with managing that land for multiple uses, including mining, recreation, grazing and conservation.
The staffing reduction are part of Trump’s efforts to slash federal spending.
“Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the Department of the Interior is working to right-size the federal workforce, cut bureaucratic waste, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently,” a BLM spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement Wednesday. “By streamlining operations and reducing unnecessary positions, we are strengthening our ability to serve the public while making government more effective and accountable.”
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
The nine fired employees were probationary, meaning they had worked for less than a year in their current position. Some worked in geology, archaeology and rangeland management, while others were listed as clerks or assistants, records show.
Federal judges have ruled the firings of probationary federal employees illegal — including over 1,712 from the Department of the Interior — and ordered the workers be reinstated, though many remain on administrative leave, the Federal News Network reports.
When asked about the BLM staffing changes across the state, Utah Rep. Blake Moore said “my office and I have been working to understand the impact of these cuts on Utah and actively engaging the administration on these changes.” Moore is co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives.
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The resignations in Utah numbered 33. These employees, according to records, participated in the Trump administration’s “Fork in the Road” program, which guaranteed full pay and benefits through September to federal employees willing to resign in February. About 2,700 people at the Department of the Interior took Trump up on the offer, E&E News reported last month.
The types of resigned positions vary, records show. A petroleum engineer in Vernal, in Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin, resigned, as well as a wild horse and burro specialist in Delta, where a facility for the animals is located. A range technician specializing in fire and a Native American coordinator tasked with ensuring tribal participation in BLM processes resigned from their positions based in Monticello.
“Congress has been forcing federal land managers to do more with less for decades,” said Neal Clark, wildlands director for the environmental nonprofit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, “so when you further cut natural resource specialists, river and backcountry rangers, and facilities maintenance workers the public should expect significant negative repercussions for both the land and user experiences.”
Records show 13 people had Utah-based job offers with the BLM withdrawn on Jan. 21, a day after Trump froze federal hiring. These rescinded positions included river patrol park rangers in Moab and Price, a geologist in Richfield and a land surveyor in Cedar City.
The Trump administration continues to encourage federal employees to leave their posts.
The Department of the Interior is offering early retirement to some employees “to assist the agency in achieving the president’s goal of reforming the federal workforce to maximize efficiency and productivity,” according to a memo obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune sent to department staff last week.
Positions in wildland fire management, emergency response, law enforcement, aviation, permitting, human resources, cybersecurity and Indian affairs are not eligible. The offer is available until March 26.
“America’s $36 trillion debt demands action. Fiscal responsibility requires tough choices —alongside smart ones,“ said Sen. John Curtis in response to the staffing changes at BLM. ”In Utah, BLM employees manage access, protect resources, and keep our public lands running. We need spending discipline that preserves compassion, streamlines work, and reflects Utah value."
A spokesperson for Rep. Celeste Maloy said the congresswoman had no comment on the BLM staffing changes, and Rep. Mike Kennedy did not respond to emails and a phone call requesting comment. The two Republican representatives held a town hall in Salt Lake City Thursday night, answering questions from constituents about Trump’s federal cuts.
Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Burgess Owens and Gov. Spencer Cox did not respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
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