The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had to make staff cuts as a result of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative to reduce the size and scope of the federal government. Tina Jackson, a ferret recovery coordinator in Colorado, was cut from her 11-person team in February along with two wildlife technicians. Jackson had worked for Colorado Parks and Wildlife for almost 30 years, but accepted her new government role in March 2024. This put her on the chopping block as a probationary employee.
Black-footed ferrets are an endangered species that were declared extinct in the 1970s. About a decade after they were ruled extinct, a Wyoming dog found a ferret carcass. Over the years, conservationists have used breeding, cloning, and reintroduction programs to help restore the black-footed ferret population, with around 500 released into the wild.
Since last March, Jackson led ferret releases at 34 locations in a dozen states as well as Canada and Mexico. She coordinated with a large network of tribes, land trusts, researchers, and nonprofits to conduct these releases.
“They are one of those species that's on the brink of extinction and the work that I and so many others do is keeping them from blinking out,” Jackson said. “We don't want to let them go. We want to make sure that they're still here for future generations to experience."
The National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center is the largest breeding center in the country and is located in Carr, Colorado. Jackson said the facility has approximately two-thirds of the total population. According to the official website, there are currently about 280 black-footed ferrets in captive breeding facilities.
The black-footed ferret is not a keystone species, but it is one of 100 species that relies upon the prairie dog for survival. The Longmont Leader wrote last month about a prairie dog colony that is at risk of being exterminated due to a home-owners association board that set a quick deadline for relocation.
The U.S. FWS laid off approximately 420 employees, which represents about five percent of the total workforce. The agency has reportedly been working short-staffed before the cuts.
Species included on the endangered species list have less than 3,000 individuals in the wild. The black-footed ferret currently has about 800.
“I’ve worked a long time in wildlife conservation,” Jackson said. “It’s a hard field because you’re working with what can be kind of a depressing topic: the extinction of an animal. So in some ways we are all optimists, and we’re really good at celebrating our successes. But we’re still only talking about 800 individuals in the world. That’s not a lot. They still are on the brink.”
Jackson emphasized that it takes funding and time to help restore populations of endangered species and expressed concerns about the future of the black-footed ferret after the latest job cuts.
