WELLFLEET — A nationwide mass firing of federal employees who were in their “probationary” first year on the job included three full-time staff at the Cape Cod National Seashore: archaeologist Daniel Zoto, outreach ranger John Hanlon, and an ecologist who worked closely with the Herring River Restoration Project, according to several sources who spoke with the Independent.
The three terminated staffers, who were all fired on Feb. 14, are among the roughly 1,000 National Park Service employees that the Trump administration is estimated to have fired by email that day, according to numerous news organizations.
There are an estimated 200,000 federal employees on probationary status, according to the New York Times, and the Trump administration has taken steps to fire most of them.
Friends of the Cape Cod National Seashore president David Bernstein told the Independent that the termination notices for the three Seashore employees came from Park Service headquarters, not from within the Seashore. All three had served in their full-time positions for less than a year.
Zoto and Hanlon both confirmed that they had been terminated effective immediately on Feb. 14. Zoto had been employed since October as the park’s full-time archaeologist, he told the Independent.
Hanlon had also started work in October in a newly created park ranger role focused on outreach, particularly to underserved communities. Before that, he had worked as a seasonal ranger for 25 years, he told the Independent.
His contract was supposed to last for four years, Bernstein said.
Bernstein confirmed that a restoration ecologist specializing in the Herring River project was also terminated, though he declined to name that person. Multiple other sources with knowledge of the situation also confirmed the ecologist’s termination without giving the person’s name.
Cape Cod National Seashore Supt. Jennifer Flynn, Deputy Supt. Leslie Reynolds, and communications specialist Linzy French did not respond to several requests for comment. Reynolds responded to a follow-up inquiry by writing “your inquiry was submitted and is in process.”
Zoto said that the termination email he received was a “cut-and-paste” email identical to that received by other National Park Service staffers across the country. It came from an office in Washington, D.C., he said, adding that “the Park had no say whatsoever in this.”
A Feb. 15 article in National Parks Traveler quotes part of that email: “The Department [of the Interior] 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 and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment.” The email was sent by Lena McDowall, the Park Service’s deputy director for administration.
Federal employees on probationary status can be terminated at any time, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, if their “work performance or conduct … fails to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment.”
Some terminated employees are contesting their firing through the federal Office of Special Counsel, whose director has also been fired by the Trump administration.
Zoto confirmed that, because he was still on probationary status, he will receive no benefits or severance pay as a result of his termination.
Bernstein said that Zoto had been working on more than a dozen archaeological projects when he was terminated. “It’s crucial to have an archaeologist, especially with the thousands of years of history of people living in this area,” he said.
Bernstein also said that Hanlon had recently gone to the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis to give a talk to patients with Alzheimer’s disease about birds in the Seashore.
“He brought the Park to this group at the Cape Cod Mall,” Bernstein said. Hanlon’s job was “not just bringing people into the Park who normally can’t get here — it was also him going out to groups who would not normally get here.”
All three of the people who were fired “do crucial work,” Bernstein said. “It’s upsetting.”
Mark Adams, a former geographic information specialist at the National Seashore who had worked with Hanlon, told the Independent that Hanlon’s work had included outreach to local students, Wampanoag tribal members, and students beyond Cape Cod from as far away as Boston. He praised Hanlon’s approach to connecting people to the Seashore.
“Some people have an attitude of, ‘Oh, we have a visitor center. We’ll just open the doors and talk to whoever comes in,’ ” Adams said.
Hanlon sought to “reach people we don’t normally reach,” and looked especially for school systems that were far removed from nature, Adams said.
“I think it’s rare to have someone who’s not a careerist — whose personal goals are secondary to serving people,” Adams said. “He represents an admirable way to do the work.
“I have a lot of sympathy for the National Park staff and administration because they’re being forced into this,” Adams added. “But at the same time, I think they could do more to keep reminding people of the context of what the National Park Service is supposed to be.”
Bernstein noted that these firings come at a time when the Seashore is already short-staffed. “To my understanding, they have about 50 full-time employees, and they’re supposed to have somewhere in the 60s,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of losing three people. It’s a matter of having lots of openings for crucial jobs.”
Rich Delaney, who chairs the National Seashore Advisory Commission, told the Independent that he had heard about the terminations only second- and third-hand and had received no communication from the Park Service or National Seashore about them.
Though news of cuts to the federal workforce can seem distant, Delaney said, “It’s affecting us, clearly.”
Though the Trump administration’s stated purpose for firing probationary employees nationwide is to save money, Bernstein said, the money saved in this case is negligible because ranger salaries are already low. The rangers, Bernstein said, “don’t do it for the pay — they do it for the love of the Park and the love of the job.”
