Biologist, maintenance head at Kaua‘i National Wildlife Refuge Complex among thousands fired by Trump administration

Biologist Bryn Webber was passionate about her work to save native Hawaiian birds that are under attack by disease-spreading mosquitoes, predators and habitat loss — and in danger of going extinct — at the Kauaʻi National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

“It was my dream job,” Webber said during an interview on Thursday. “I still can’t believe I got it. And I can’t believe it was ripped away from me.”

At 8 a.m. on Valentine’s Day, Webber was having car trouble and headed to the store to pick up oil when she got a call to join a team meeting scheduled with bosses in Portland.

Her “heart just sank” and rightly so. When she opened her email and clicked to join the meeting, Webber said it was a message by the leaders that thanked her and her team for their service but informed them they would be terminated because they were probationary employees.

Webber and her three team members, as well as longtime refuge maintenance employee Steven Minamishin, were among the thousands of federal workers on probationary status across a variety of agencies who were recently fired with no warning by the Trump Administration as part of its sweeping agenda to slash the government workforce, and eliminate waste and fraud.

During the probationary period, federal workers do not have civil service protection. And, the probationary period isn’t just for new hires, but also can be for longtime employees who were promoted into new positions, as was the case with 38-year-old Minamishin.

Webber said Minamishin was one of those people “working humbly in the background” to ensure wetlands were functioning and water flowing for the taro farms, among a long list of other responsibilities at the three refuges.

“He’s the glue that holds the refuges together,” Webber said.

Emails and phone calls to the U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service, which manages the Kaua‘i National Wildlife Refuge Complex, were not answered.

The complex encompasses 1,400 acres between three refuges. Hanalei and Hulē‘ia National Wildlife Refuges were established in the early 1970s under the Endangered Species Act to recover threatened and endangered species including four wetland bird species and the nēnē (Hawaiian goose).

Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, which was established in 1985, is home to a variety of native and migratory seabirds, as well as the Daniel K. Inouye Kīlauea Point Lighthouse.

The refuge complex had been without a biologist for two years before 33-year-old Webber was hired in May 2024.

“I have built my whole life around this job,” Webber said. “I didn’t have any other dreams because I wanted to be in this job for a long time.”

Webber had previous experience working at the refuge complex while completing her master’s degree in wildlife science from Oregon State from 2019 to 2022. She was studying the Hawaiian water bird alae ‘ula at the Kaua‘i refuges, looking at its nests and chick survival.

But with most new federal jobs, and even in new jobs due to promotion, there is a probationary period that usually lasts a year, and can be longer.

Webber posted a copy of the email she was sent from the deputy director at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the subject line “Notice of decision to terminate competitive service appointment during probationary period.”

The email stated: “The Department has determined your knowledge, skills and abilities do not meet the Department’s current needs and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate during the probationary period your appointment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”

Before that call, Webber said her direct superiors told her and the team they couldn’t give them a heads up on anything but didn’t believe they would be let go. Since that call, Webber said she has heard nothing about severance pay or being able to reapply for her position.

Webber has been passionate about working on Kauaʻi. After getting her degree she worked a variety of jobs, including as the mosquito coordinator for Kaua’i Forest Birds.

Of Kauaʻi’s 16 native honeycreepers, 10 have gone extinct and three are listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened or endangered.

Last year, conservationists flew a helicopter to spread a harmless bacterium in native forests inhabited by near-extinct honeycreepers, like the ‘akikiki.

“I’ve seen the ‘akikiki go extinct before my very eyes,” Webber said.

She is still in shock and is worried about the future of Kaua’i’s endangered species and protected lands.

Part of Webber’s job was monitoring nests of native birds and predator control. She also was working on submitting a 40-page application for a threatened and endangered species permit that would authorize herself and her team to monitor disturbances to endangered plants and/or animals on Kaua’i.

Webber said the loss of staff will have devastating impacts on the wildlife refuges.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is currently dealing with an avian botulism outbreak in Hanalei that’s impacting native birds.

Webber said birds can go from healthy to dead within eight hours. This disease also can go unnoticed until it’s too late.

Webber’s team has had success in saving birds they have found sick but what’s critical is finding the carcasses of birds that have died because of the outbreak.

At Kīlauea Point, the agency installed a $2 million fence to keep predators out of the refuge. Webber said the team had eradicated all rats and cats from the area and the last project was getting the feral pigs out, which were eating the birds.

The fence itself has to be maintained. There is a 10-foot swath on each side to keep branches and grass off of it. Branches can act as a bridge for more rats and cats to enter the protected space again.

“Although these cuts were supposed to save this government money, every single wildlife refuge will suffer and go backward,” Webber said. “I think this is costing the government.”

Kaua’i also is at risk of losing its natural wetlands.

Without being constantly maintained and removing invasive grass the habitats will be gone. Minamishin was leading that effort.

He was an AmeriCorps intern at the complex for two years before being hired as a facilities manager in 2020. Last January, he got the promotion to maintenance lead.

Born and raised on O‘ahu, Minamishin was drawn to Kaua‘i because his grandmother was from the Garden Island.

On top of maintaining wetlands, Minamishin said he was the collateral duty safety officer who ensured the complex was abiding by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines.

In Hanalei, Minamishin ensured water from drainage ditches were flowing properly to the taro patches and kept invasive grasses at bay. He was also the construction manager for a variety of projects on the refuges, including the predator fence at Kīlauea Point.

Minamishin was responsible for ensuring the complex facilities – kitchens, bathrooms and other buildings – were clean and operating properly. Between all three refuges, Minamishin is responsible for clearing invasive species and maintaining the predator fence in Kīlauea.

Minamishin was in the process of moving office printers from Kīlauea to Hanalei when he heard about the layoffs.

“I was in complete shock,” he said. “I didn’t think it applied to me because of my years of service.”

For everyone who works at the refuge complex, Minamishin said, they all have a like-minded passion: “It’s aloha ‘aina, a deep-seeded stewardship for the land. It’s a way of life.”

Minamishin said losing his job “felt like an attack” and he has yet to hear how he will be compensated.

But the biggest slap in the face for him was being told he was being let go because of poor performance even though he said he always has averaged a high-performance review with his superiors.

“It cuts deep when you see something like that,” he said. “It eats away at you for a little bit.”

Minamishin’s immediate goal is to share his knowledge with the remaining staff. With so much land to take care of, he said it can get out of control quickly and wildlife will be lost.

“We’re this huge family and we have this common enemy,” Minamishin said about the Trump administration. “It’s an attack on my life, my future and what I believe in.”