LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Layoffs across federal agencies are happening throughout the country by order of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). They are also impacting Nevada including Lake Mead.
Thursday, FOX5 met with one now former employee who says he and a dozen other workers there lost their jobs which will have a big impact ahead of the busy summer season.
“I was the aquatic ecologist for Lake Mead National Recreation Area, so that was my office,” shared Dr. Riley Rackliffe while gesturing back at Lake Mead. Dr. Rackliffe was in charge of water quality, testing for things like toxic algae blooms making sure it was safe for people.
“I would test the water in swim areas right along Boulder Beach here, all over, Lake Mojave, where lots of people were coming in contact with the water,” Dr. Rackliffe explained. Dr. Rackliffe was also in charge of protecting the lake from invasive species.
“Lake Mead is known for having quagga mussels and we have a lot of other invasive species too, so I helped manage that program,” Dr. Rackliffe revealed. Dr. Rackliffe was fired as part of DOGE cuts cross the National Parks Service.
“Devastation. You know, I moved across the country to take this job and working for the Park Service has always been a goal of mine and I was ready to be here for 20 years, 20-30 years, to put down roots and that’s all been kind of ripped away and I have to go back. And it’s not like I can just go to another park,” Dr. Rackliffe stated.
Back in the summer, FOX5 met with park rangers who said their resources were already limited patrolling Lake Mead, the largest national recreation area in the United States: 1.5 million acres.
“I think it’s important to remember that we manage…a very large national park. Our resources are diverted between land and water, providing public safety and enforcement on the water and land,” reported Trouper Snow, former Chief Ranger of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
After just 11 months, 25 days short of being out of his probation period, Dr. Rackliffe will return back to Indiana and with a hiring freeze in place, his former co-workers will have to assume his former duties.
“They’ll have to do all of their current work, plus whatever I was doing, but more likely some of it’s just not going to be done,” Dr. Rackliffe predicted.
While Lake Mead is a national recreation area run by the park service, the only official national park fully in Nevada is Great Basin National Park near Ely, best known for the Lehman caves. According to the Great Basin National Park Foundation, they are losing about 20 percent of their staff. Five of the 26 rangers there were terminated on Valentine’s Day.
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