SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – President Donald Trump’s federal employee layoffs have hit South Dakota.
Under the new administration’s attempt to streamline government efficiency, hundreds of thousands of probationary federal employees have been laid off in the last few weeks; including South Dakotan Liz Renner.
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“It was very unexpected,” she said.
Renner worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services as a fisheries biologist. She left her job with the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks in Fort Pierre and relocated to Yankton in May. She was just three months shy of her probation period ending.
At 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, Renner was pulled into her supervisor’s office and told she was laid off effective immediately. Through her disbelief, she said her goodbyes, sent her final emails and was locked out of all federal accounts by 3 p.m.
“I feel discarded and betrayed,” Renner said. “I’m upset that I went to work every day on behalf of our wildlife and ecosystems, our fisheries here in the Missouri River. I feel like there’s this sentiment that federal workers are the enemy.”
Liz Renner working for the US Fish and Wildlife ServicesLiz Renner working for the US Fish and Wildlife ServicesLiz Renner working for the US Fish and Wildlife Services
In her role with USFWS, Renner was based at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery where she worked on endangered pallid sturgeon fish conservation in the Missouri River. She says her work, along with all federal research in the wildlife and natural resources realm, is important for the conservation of our wildlife.
“I don’t think some people realize that without the work of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, there would be hundreds if not several thousands of species that would already have gone extinct,” Renner said. She added that specifically in South Dakota, paddlefish, walleye and angler fish would be at risk.
The Trump Administration ordered agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees on Feb. 13, AP News reported. According to data maintained by the Office of Personnel Management, 220,000 federal employees had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.
Renner added that about 420 employees from USFWS were laid off across the country and around 40 of those were from the Mountain and Plains Region, which includes the Dakotas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and Kansas.
A December 2024 Congressional Report said South Dakota had 8,780 civilian federal government employees.
Liz Renner working for the US Fish and Wildlife Services
She believes the cut of her position is just the start of the “chaos to come.” The rhetoric coming from the Office of Personnel Management suggests more cuts were coming for more agencies.
“This is an unprecedented mass layoff, and it will have immediate and lasting effects on the operations of the US Fish and Wildlife Service across the Department of the Interior,” Renner explained. “This will negatively impact our public lands and waters.
Renner took to social media to share what happened to her. Within her lengthy post, Renner noted the presence of fascism in the country and said the U.S. is on the “precipice of failed state territory.”
“I worry that we’re going to see a dismantling of our environmental regulations in this country and a complete gutting of the federal workforce in the realm of fish and wildlife conservation and that that lack of funding, we’ll have repercussions for our state fish and wildlife agencies as well,” Renner told KELOLAND News. “I don’t think anyone in my field is safe right now.”
As of now, Renner’s future remains uncertain. She moved back home to her family’s farm in Crooks where she said she plans on taking her time before jumping back into conservation work.
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Renner is the second laid off federal employee with South Dakota ties to speak with KELOLAND News. Bailey Biegler from Aberdeen South Dakota worked in the Animal Plant and Health Inpsection Service for the USDA . She had moved to Madison, Wisconsin one month into her new job before she was laid off.
Gov. Larry Rhoden said the state does not get notified when a federal employee is laid off.
