Like many Americans, I have been watching with a mixture of horror and befuddlement the flood of actions coming out of the new administration. It seems like every day sets a new low for executive orders that exact revenge on enemies, reward cronies and attack noble American ideals of equality, justice, care for the sick and poor, and protection of the environment.

As one that cherishes and uses wildlands and wild places, I see the latest attack on public land agencies as a tragedy. Last week, more than 4,500 employees of the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management were suddenly terminated in a crude meat-axe approach to reduce the size of the workforce, an action that will not bode well for our public lands.

I cannot overemphasize the harsh and mean-spirited manner in which this mass firing was accomplished. The administration unceremoniously fired thousands of young, bright, dedicated employees, selecting them solely because they were easy targets in their probationary period. And get this — to add insult to injury, their termination notices included the canned statement that, based on the employee’s performance, they had not demonstrated that their further employment at the agency would be in the public interest — a patently false statement.

High performing employees were let go suddenly, solely because their probationary period allows it. This is not the way a caring outfit deals with their employees.

A basic understanding of civics shows us this is also not the way we run our government.

Agencies work for the executive branch (headed by the president), and the workload and staffing of agencies is determined by a budget negotiated between the legislative branch (Congress) and the executive branch (president). To reduce (or increase) changes in staffing and work, the president negotiates with Congress, and for the current fiscal year this hard work was done months ago. This is just one part of the system of checks and balances that keeps our democracy alive and well.

Now, instead of working with Congress to change the size of agency budgets and the workforce, the administration has jumped to the back end of the system, firing thousands of people doing important work that was already funded. For the Forest Service this means field-going personnel that maintain roads and trails, plan and prepare timber sales, reduce fire risk, complete basic resource inventories, improve fish and wildlife habitat, etc., work that we need to continue in order to keep our lands healthy.

When I decided on public service as a career, and chose the Forest Service, I did so knowing I was accepting a few tradeoffs. I knew that I wouldn’t get rich, or be a CEO, or have a golden parachute and lucrative stock options or any of the other perks of a corporate life. Instead, I would work in the woods for the public good, earn a reliable and stable living wage and have some degree of job security, all important for my young family. This is part of what attracts some of the best and brightest to public land management careers, and it has worked for generations.

Now all that is turned on its head. The workforce is suffering, and employees are heartbroken and frightened for their future and that of the agency.

I find it ironic that this harm to young, bright civil servants is being brought about by the actions of a few unelected super-wealthy oligarchs with no apparent oversight. Talk about class warfare.

We can do better than this. We may not always see eye to eye on cultural and social issues, but we ought to be able to agree that our public lands are a treasure worth caring for. When the administration takes such a calloused approach to our ability to manage these lands, we need to stand up and say “enough.”

Congress has a role in setting workload through budgets and legislation — and it is shirking its constitutional responsibilities to the American people by remaining silent, even complicit. We need to call on our representatives and senators to live up to their constitutional duties and their oaths of office, provide their piece of the system of checks and balances and show some compassion for federal workers.

If not, our treasured Blue Mountains and the agencies that care for them will never be the same.