Congresswoman Lee Calls on House Natural Resources Republican Leadership to Defend Lake Mead Workers
Letter Comes After 13 Workers Were Laid Off by Elon Musk’s DOGE
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) sent a letter to Republican House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman calling for a bipartisan effort to defend local federal workers at Lake Mead against indiscriminate staff cuts enacted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Lee also cc’d Governor Joe Lombardo.
Recently, 13 workers at Lake Mead were laid off by DOGE, including Riley Rackliffe, an aquatic ecologist responsible for monitoring waterborne diseases and toxic algae. In 2023, Lake Mead hosted 5.8 million visitors and generated $358 million in economic impact. That same year, Nevada’s outdoor recreation industry accounted for $8.1 billion in value-added GDP, and we now boast one of the fastest growing outdoor recreation economies in the country.
“I urge you to join me in defending the cherished resources and committed staff of America’s first and largest national recreation area (NRA) — Nevada’s own Lake Mead NRA. More than a dozen employees of Lake Mead NRA were just terminated as part of a government-wide purge neither rooted in solid legal ground nor resulting from the expressed will of Congress. These employees include park rangers, engineers, ecologists, and safety and maintenance workers,”wrote Congresswoman Susie Lee.
Lee continued, “It is well past time that we come together as Republicans and Democrats in Congress to reassert the role of the people’s representatives in determining the investments and support for NPS, our parks, and our park personnel — including, in this unprecedented hour of need, the men and women of Lake Mead NRA. Our previous and successful collaboration on bills like the EXPLORE Act shows what bipartisan partnership on behalf of the outdoor recreation community can do. Let’s do it again.”
Full text of the letter can be found here and below:
February 26, 2025
The Honorable Mike Simpson
Chairman Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Bruce Westerman
Chairman Committee on Natural Resources
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Simpson and Chairman Westerman:
I urge you to join me in defending the cherished resources and committed staff of America’s first and largest national recreation area (NRA) — Nevada’s own Lake Mead NRA. More than a dozen employees of Lake Mead NRA were just terminated as part of a government-wide purge neither rooted in solid legal ground nor resulting from the expressed will of Congress. These employees include park rangers, engineers, ecologists, and safety and maintenance workers. In fact, one of those terminated employees was one of just two water quality monitors responsible for keeping the water toxin-free. I’ve also heard that Lake Mead now doesn’t even have the staff to man the entry gates. As the lawmakers currently entrusted with key appropriating and authorizing authority over the National Park Service (NPS), you are best positioned within the Republican Majority, as well as within House leadership more broadly, to stand with me in pushing back on these indiscriminate staff cuts.
In 2023, as the ninth most-visited site in the entire National Park System, Lake Mead NRA welcomed 5.8 million visitors and created $358 million in economic impact. That same year, Nevada’s outdoor recreation industry accounted for $8.1 billion in value-added GDP, and we now boast one of the fastest growing outdoor recreation economies in the country.
The terminations at Lake Mead NRA, unprompted and unsought by Congress, will not only upend NPS employees’ lives but quite literally endanger the lives of park visitors. Unfortunately, in recent years, the park has topped another top-ten list as America’s deadliest NPS site, with headlines in 2024 underscoring that “Lake Mead, nation’s deadliest national park, is becoming even deadlier.” Firing experts and essential staff from the already habitually understaffed NPS will do nothing to help Lake Mead turn this trend around — and, as the Nevada Current detailed yesterday, will simply make the park less safe.
“Lake Mead,” the Current reported, “requires testing for potentially lethal toxins produced by bluegreen algae, which grows on the lake nearly every summer. Without monitoring, visitors could unknowingly swim where the algae is most concentrated.” It was aquatic ecologist Riley Rackliffe’s job to regularly measure toxin loads and, if necessary, issue health advisories for swimmers and boaters — that is, until he was abruptly and unjustifiably terminated on February 14 by the Trump Administration. Rackliffe has warned that there is now just one employee remaining to perform this vital task at Lake Mead NRA, which NPS’s own description emphasizes “spreads across 1.5 million acres of mountains, canyons, valleys and two vast lakes.”
Moreover, after many years spent by the Nevada delegation working with NPS to extend boat launch ramps across Lake Mead as drought conditions have threatened reliable boating access, President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s arbitrary and capricious staff cuts could soon stop this work dead in its tracks.
It is well past time that we come together as Republicans and Democrats in Congress to reassert the role of the people’s representatives in determining the investments and support for NPS, our parks, and our park personnel — including, in this unprecedented hour of need, the men and women of Lake Mead NRA. Our previous and successful collaboration on bills like the EXPLORE Act shows what bipartisan partnership on behalf of the outdoor recreation community can do. Let’s do it again.
Sincerely,
Susie Lee
Member of Congress
CC: The Honorable Joe Lombardo, Governor of Nevada
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