These Park Rangers monitored Florida’s only manatee -gain. Then they were fired.

Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge – Brier Ryver had just spent the work day with five dozen schoolchildren on the banks of Kings Bay and taught them the importance of Florida’s wild places when the rumors began.

Talk had spread that job cuts could come to the American fish and wildlife service, the agency, which oversees the country’s only dedicated haven for manateies, where Ryver was hired in April as a park ranger.

Eight full -time employees, including Ryver, managed the 32,000 hectares of wildlife on Florida’s Gulf Coast, which draws hundreds of thousands of annual visitors. Any cuts would be harmful to the team that is already juggling permits, manatee rescues, outreach, volunteer coordination and whatever else the day had to bring, Ryver thought.

Being Florida Park Ranger was a dream job. As rumors swirled, gathered Ryver who helped keep the refuge in the middle of back-to-back hurricanes, months of glowing performance reviews and free Letter from supervisors.

The next day, Ryver was invited to a work call with hundreds of other federal staff in Wildlife Service. They were all released.

Ryver was one of two full-time refuge-one quarter of the staff-guy in the middle of the Trump administration’s push to trim the federal workforce and get rid of “waste”. Emily Jung, who also helped oversee visitors services. All in all, the domestic department has dismissed approx. 2,300 people in recent days.

“I want people to know that we were important,” said Ryver, 26. “We worked hard to do what we felt was right: to connect people to the environment and protect this place.

The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge cuts come in high season when the animals gather with hundreds in the park’s hot water Three sisters who jump to avert the cold. For the staff, it is a period of all-hand-on-tires when visitors arrive from all over the country to catch a glimpse of the hundred manates.

“Losing these employees couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Beverly Carr, a refuge volunteer who worked with Ryver and Jung. “These two were important to run the refuge.

On top of the administration of the Peak Manatee season, Ryver was four weeks in a six-week program to teach hundreds of Citrus County students about local jumping restoration. Ryver also monitored a permit to bring people with intellectuals and mentally retarded into the haven.

“They were glued that kept things together,” said Carr, who started an online fundraiser for both former employees. From Tuesday afternoon, approx. 207 people tiled $ 13,951. All revenue goes to Ryver and Jung when they hunt for jobs.

Ryver earned approx. $ 61,000 a year and was fired about a month before an expected pay raise After a probationary time was set to quit.

There has been no termination paperwork and the only official document received by Ryver and other staff was a memo that was forwarded to their personal E -mail five days later.

“The department (within the interior) has determined your knowledge, skills and abilities that do not meet the current needs of the department, and it is necessary and appropriate to complete during the probationary period, your agreement for the American fish and wildlife service,” the e email reads.

Health insurance coverage expires in less than 30 days, Ryver said.

The news rattled the tight network of staff and volunteers in the refuge, home to the last undeveloped spring habitat along the flooders of the river.

“I write this e email with a heavy heart,” began an e email written by Joyce Palmer, Park’s manager, sent to staff and volunteers. “I’m sorry to inform you that both Emily Jung and Brier Ryver were currently on probation and their positions were completed from today.”

The decision was out of the hands of the park staff, Palmer wrote. The cuts were not based on performance. A spokesperson for the Interior Department has not responded to E emails from Tampa Bay Times seeking comment.

The staff who manage the five national wildlife breaks – including Crystal River, Pinellas, Passage Key, Chassahowitzka and Egmont Key – are now half the size it was a few years ago. In 2015, there was a dozen employees.

There are more than 500 refugees across the country created to protect and preserve endangered and endangered species, provide wildlife -oriented recreation and protect natural resources from expanding human development.

At the Crystal River Refuge enforces the staff seven manatee sanctuaries, conducting regular animal studies, leadership training hours, rescue -damaged manates and studying how visitors interact with the park.

“We were not fully manned, and now the remaining employees are fighting to cover it all,” Ryver said.

“Everyone always threw themselves in and everyone is doing good work, but there is a limit to how few employees can reasonably be expected to run a refuge effectively.”

On Thursday, Ryver returned to the park for the first time since he was fired. Volunteers who donate bright orange vests Offered hugs and successful wishes.

“I’m so sorry that this happened to you,” said a volunteer.

“I wish you were back,” another said.

Rick Irvine, 76, said he never worked with an employee with such effective communication and appreciation for others. Volunteers “expect chaos” where Jung and Ryver are gone, he said.

When hundreds of visitors marched the boardwalk around three sisters Springs and stared at Manates nearby, Ryver found a quiet place to take the view.

Park Rangers spends hours here taking interesting manatee -facts to the guests.

So it was not surprising when Ryver turned to a man leaning towards the boardwalk nearby.

Springs can tell you a lot about the health of a waters, Ryver began, and the manators here need a healthy habitat.

More than anything else they are dependent on this place.

Will you help?

If you would like to donate to fundraiser who benefits from Ryver and Jung, you can visit Tinyurl.com/4n9nea6s