Deep cuts at AmeriCorps are affecting environment and conservation programs.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, ordered significant reductions in staffing and funding at AmeriCorps in April, according to reports in multiple news outlets. AmeriCorps is a federal agency that provides workforce development and service through its members across the country.
The DOGE cuts have resulted in thousands of AmeriCorps members losing their jobs, according to Rachel Bruns, chief engagement officer at America’s Service Commissions, a national association of state commissions that run AmeriCorps Programs.
In the Midwest and Great Plains, many of the members were working at parks or preserves and in environmental educational programs. The cuts have disproportionately impacted rural communities, Bruns said.
“Oftentimes federal resources can be challenging for rural communities to access, yet AmeriCorps is one of those rare federal programs that has the ability to access rural communities,” Bruns said.
The cuts have affected AmeriCorps in three ways, Bruns said. Hundreds of AmeriCorps members who were serving through the National Civilian Community Corps have been terminated, resulting in a total demobilization of that program. There were also cuts at the administrative level, resulting in about an 85% reduction in federal staff, Bruns said. And about $400 million in grant programs across the country have also been terminated, eliminating positions for more than 30,000 members, according to the Washington Post.
At Indian Creek Nature Preserve in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Executive Director John Myers says AmeriCorps members were invaluable.
The National Civilian Community Corps had AmeriCorps members doing short-term, annual service at the preserve. For about eight weeks each year, teams of members did specialized ecosystem restoration jobs like managing prescribed burns in prairies, identifying and removing invasive species and doing work with equipment like chainsaws.
In Mid-April, DOGE canceled the entire NCCC program nationwide. That meant overnight, the 10 team members doing work at Indian Creek lost their jobs midway through their scheduled work.
Myers said now they will have to rely on staff and volunteers to try to complete the jobs.
“But nothing can compare to 10 full-time team members on the ground doing the work on a daily basis,” Myers said.
Across the nation, similar natural spaces and outdoor education programs also rely on AmeriCorps members. Many of those positions are now empty.
Severson Dells outside of Rockford, Illinois, has had AmeriCorps members serving at its nature center and with partner organizations since 2019. The members were funded through a grant to the state of Illinois.
At Severson Dells, members offer year-round education about water quality in local schools, collect data to monitor populations of bees, bats, dragonflies and frogs, and work on habitat restoration at the preserve.
Late last month, Executive Director Ann Wasser heard from the state that the funding was being pulled. Wasser had to call six members to tell them their jobs were immediately ending and another four who were supposed to start service this summer. She also said the AmeriCorps members she works with are not eligible for unemployment as part of their service agreement.
“I'm hoping that the AmeriCorps program will get restored,” Wasser said. “The members didn't deserve to be cut off so abruptly.”
There are multiple lawsuits challenging the cuts to AmeriCorps. One has been brought by 25 states, including Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
A press release from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office said 28 programs in the state were eliminated, affecting 632 workers or volunteers.
“The gutting of AmeriCorps is the latest example of the Trump administration’s disregard for the Constitution to achieve their political goals,” Raoul said.
Wasser said a lot of attention often goes to big national parks, but she is especially worried about what this will mean for smaller nature preserves in the Midwest.
“It is equally as important, or in some cases more important, that we are protecting the habitats here, because we don't have large-scale protected reserves like you see in western states,” Wasser said. “The patchwork that we have throughout the Midwest, those areas are so important because they are few and far between, and we need that network to be healthy.”
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
