More than 130 recently-fired federal employees in Alaska have applied for state unemployment benefits in recent weeks, amid efforts from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to slash the size of the federal workforce.

In Alaska, fired federal workers include meteorologists, fishery scientists, and national park rangers, among others, who say their departures will be acutely felt by Alaskans and visitors alike.

Director of Alaska’s Employment and Training Services Paloma Harbour told a legislative panel on Wednesday that 138 federal employees have applied for benefits in recent weeks, an increase from the typical average of 10 claims per month from federal employees.

The number is likely an undercount of the number of federal employees who have been fired in recent weeks — which has not been publicly shared by DOGE, Trump administration officials or Alaska’s congressional delegation — because some federal employees were ordered to leave their workplace so suddenly that they were unable to gather the necessary paperwork needed to file unemployment claims with the state.

“I still to this day do not have access to any of my employment documents as required to file for unemployment benefits by law,” said Charles Warren Hill, who was fired from his job working in Lake Clark National Park on Feb. 14, after two decades in the National Park Service.

Hill was one of three recently-fired federal employees who testified before the Alaska House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. All three said they had been told their skills no longer fit the needs of the federal government, despite having specialized knowledge and experience. All three said they would return to their jobs if given the opportunity.

Two federal judges on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to offer jobs back to all probationary employees who were fired last month from numerous departments, opening the window for Hill and others to get their jobs back.

Probationary employees are generally those in their first year of employment with the federal government. But in Alaska, numerous fired federal employees were considered probationary because they had recently been promoted, or because they had recently been hired in a permanent position after several years in seasonal or temporary posts.”

The order comes as the Trump administration is expected to take additional steps to shrink the number of federal employees, including through a reduction in force process currently underway.

‘Disproportionate impact here’

Alaska has more than 15,000 federal employees, of which over 1,300 are considered probationary, meaning they lack some of the workplace protections generally afforded to the federal workforce.

Brock Wilson, an economist with the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, told lawmakers that federal employment plays a significant role in the Alaska economy.

Civilian federal employees in Alaska make up more than 3% of the workforce. Only Hawaii and Maryland have a greater percentage. The federal government employs more Alaskans than natural resources and mining industries, and its average salaries are among the highest in the state, according to data Wilson presented.

“Any reduction in federal employment in Alaska is largely going to have a disproportionate impact here compared to other states,” Wilson said.

Harbour, with Alaska’s Department of Labor, said Wednesday that though the federal employees who lost their jobs have been told they were let go because their skills and knowledge were not a fit for the federal government, the federal agencies later reported to the state that the employees had lost their jobs due to “restructuring.”

“If an employer says that an employee was discharged due to misconduct, the burden is on them to prove it to us. So they have to provide us with actual documentation. So far we have 138 active federal claims. From the agency responses, 95% have said ‘laid off due to restructure.’ The other 5% have just said ‘layoff,’” said Harbour.

“So we have not had anyone accused of being discharged for misconduct,” she added. “If we did, they would have to show that there was actually something they were doing wrong … Not just because they wanted to get rid of — because they were on probation and they could be let go.”

That means that unemployment insurance penalties would not apply — but also calls into question the reasoning given to employees for their termination.

Aaron Lambert was fired on Feb. 27 from what he called his “dream job” as a fishery management specialist in the Sustainable Fisheries Division of the Alaska Regional NOAA Fisheries office. Lambert said his termination email stated that his “ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the agency’s current needs.”

“This was a blatant lie,” said Lambert, who had studied fisheries and statistics at the University of Alaska Juneau and the University of Alaska Fairbanks and had developed new statistical models to predict fishery populations before he was hired.

Rep. Sarah Vance, a Homer Republican, asked fired federal employees to apply instead for state jobs. In doing so, she echoed a message from Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Trump ally, who encouraged fired employees to seek jobs with the state.

“We need great people to fill some of the positions so the state can provide services,” Vance said on Wednesday. The state has for several years contended with high vacancy rates that have hampered state services.

Lambert said he wants to return to his federal job, but had in the meantime been hired for a temporary position by a lab in Juneau where he previously worked, and would consider employment with the state.

“There are other jobs that are similar, such as biometricians for the state. However, they do pay about 40% less than what I was making, and it would take me about 10 years to get back to my salary I had a couple months ago,” he said.

Harbour said that the state has enough funds to pay unemployment benefits to fired federal employees — who must prove they are seeking alternate employment options to qualify. However, Harbour said the staffing at Alaska’s unemployment insurance offices is “at a very low level,” which could lead to delays in determining eligibility for impacted workers if the number of claims balloons.

‘Fisheries products in Alaska will suffer’

Alaska’s unemployment benefits rank near the bottom of the nation when taking into account average claim payments and cost of living, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Numerous fired workers have said that their termination would likely compel them to leave Alaska altogether.

The number of funded positions in Alaska’s unemployment insurance office is 163, down more than 10% from the number in 2018. But a large number of those are unfilled, as the office contends with “ongoing staffing challenges,” Harbour reported. The unemployment insurance office has 51 vacant positions across the state, Harbour said Thursday.

Fired federal workers told state lawmakers that their departures from the federal workforce could mean critical tasks entrusted to the federal government are abandoned. State and private organizations would not be able to step in every case, they said, leaving Alaska’s popular national parks with no one to take care of facilities, and leaving Alaska’s fishermen and oversight agencies with no data on which to base catch limits.

Andrew Dimond was recently fired from the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Juneau.

Dimond was born in Juneau and planned to continue living in the community, after spending 20 years commercial fishing in Alaska and earning a degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

He has worked on fishery and environmental surveys for NOAA for nearly a decade — first as a seasonal survey technician, then as a temporary worker, and beginning in 2024 with a full-time, permanent job. He was 11 days from the end of his probationary period when he was terminated.

Dimond’s job was critical to annual longline surveys that provide data on groundfish species, and ecosystem surveys of the Bering Sea and Arctic, which provide data for chinook and chum salmon forecasts in the Yukon River, and pollock stock assessments.

“If these surveys don’t happen, fisheries products in Alaska will suffer. Stock assessment authors that don’t have the accurate information these surveys provide may be more conservative with their forecasting. This directly impacts the fishing industry,” Dimond said.

“I’m solely responsible for deploying complex electronic data collection systems which save tons of hours because you’re no longer hand-entering data that’s written on sheets,” he said. “That expertise that I’ve developed over nine years walked out the door with me when I was terminated.”

Dimond said he would take his job back if it was offered to him.

“I absolutely have confidence that at some point in the future I will be back at that facility. Whether it’s in two years, four years, or six years — I don’t know,” he said.

Lambert said he was hired in August, in part to help oversee a court-ordered federal salmon fishery in the Cook Inlet. He was also responsible for ensuring that the federal government responds adequately to fishery disaster declarations.

Lambert said he was “assured that because our office was already running lean” and “we facilitated incredibly important fisheries worth billions of dollars — that our jobs would surely be secure.” His firing came last month nonetheless, even as numerous other positions in the office remain vacant.

“As a result of my termination, there’s a possibility that the Cook Inlet stock assessment may not be conducted, risking that a newly court-ordered fishery may not proceed or proceed with outdated stock numbers,” he said.

Hill, who previously worked in Lake Clark National Park, said 20% of the Lake Clark park staff members were terminated. Those fired reside in Port Alsworth, a gateway community to the park with fewer than 200 residents, where other employment opportunities are virtually nonexistent. Without his job back, he said he would have to sell his Native land allotment and leave.

“There’s no longer anybody left there with any supervisory level experience,” said Hill. That could mean that roads, trails and facilities will no longer be maintained and fire and safety codes will not be followed. “All that’s left is literally our janitors and our laborers.”

“There’s nobody there in our administrative buildings to answer phone calls about visits to the park,” he said. “It’s really disheartening for a place I love.”

• • •

Do you have additional information about actions involving the federal workforce in Alaska? Reach out to reporter Iris Samuels, Michelle Theriaut Boots or Sean Maguire via email at isamuels@adn.com, mtheriault@adn.com or smaguire@adn.com or via encrypted message on Signal at irissamuels.11, michelletheriaultboots.53 and SeanBMaguire.11. Reach editor David Hulen at dhulen@adn.com or via Signal at davidhulen.99.

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The Kake high school boys basketball team was disappointed to learn that despite being undefeated heading into the Alaska 1A State Basketball Tournament for the third year in row, it wasn’t first or even second seed in the bracket.

However, that momentary letdown quickly turned to joy when they found out their first opponent on the opening day of this year’s tournament was reigning state champion King Cove, which prevented Kake from pulling off a successful title defense in last year’s state finals.

“It was a redemption game for us,” Kake head coach Anthony Ross said.

Not only did the Thunderbirds avenge their gut-wrenching defeat with a resounding 61-41 win Wednesday afternoon at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage, but in doing so, they extinguished any hopes the T-Jacks had of spoiling Kake’s tournament again.

“It was a long year to get back here, and to get back here and to be able to kind of redeem ourselves and play King Cove, it felt good,” Ross said.

Last year, their offseason started as soon as they returned to their small community in Southeast Alaska.

“These boys were hungry,” Ross said. “I’ve got six seniors on the team, so as soon as we got home, we hit the gym and got in a lot of shots (and) a lot of studying. (King Cove) came out again with their 1-3-1 (zone) that kind of destroyed us last year, so we were ready for it this year and kind of made them shift out of it a little bit.”

Even though his team defeated King Cove, the Thunderbirds weren’t satisfied with how they played overall.

“We were a little sloppy to be honest,” Ross said. “A lot of turnovers. We ended the game with 19 turnovers, which is way too many for us. We have to tighten that up, but to still have a 20-point win after 19 turnovers is a testament to our defense. Guys playing with hands high, a lot of communication and sliding our feet. Our defense got the job done, but we’ve got to clean it up on offense.”

Leading the charge for the team on both ends of the court was senior Keontay Jackson, who earned Player of the Game honors after recording a double-double in which he scored a game-high 22 points and snagged a game-high 11 rebounds.

“He’s our all-around go-to,” Ross said. “I got him as a sophomore and he came off the bench the first time we won (state), and he’s earned that starting role and earned that captain role. He leads us on both ends of the floor.”

Shishmaref sweats out thrilling win over Buckland

The team Kake will face Thursday night is coming off a hard-fought opening-round battle as the Northern Lights of Shishmaref narrowly edged out the Buckland Sissauni 57-55 in the most competitive game of the first session of action.

“It was a battle,” head coach Tyler Ivanoff said. “These first-round games are pretty difficult to win and Buckland has got a lot of experience at the state tournament, coming almost every year.”

Trailing by a point after the first quarter, his team used an explosive second quarter in which they outscored their foes 20-8 to take an 11-point lead at halftime. Coming out of the break, Buckland’s defensive pressure paved the way for a comeback as they outscored Shishmaref 30-19 in the third quarter.

“They kind of caught up to us but we just had to settle down because I think we were just working the ball a little too much trying to rush things,” Ivanoff said. “Once we settled down, we were able to execute some of our plays.”

The Northern Lights were propelled to victory by a big game from sophomore guard Ivan Davis-Nayokpuk, who recorded a game-high 28 points and justly received Player of the Game honors.

“Ivan is a really unselfish player and he’s really patient,” Ivanoff said. “It really allows him to get the opportunities to attack the basket and find players.”

Buckland was able to momentarily regain the lead in the final minutes but couldn’t hold on to it. With 22 seconds left on the clock, Shishmaref got a clutch go-ahead bucket from junior Colten Hadley who got an open look because of the gravitational pull from the defense Davis-Nayokpuk was commanding.

“I was trying to draw up a play for Ivan there to kind of give him some spacing but they wanted to work the ball a little bit and we got to our spots and Fred (Olanna) found Colton (Hadley) in that wing on the baseline and he hit a big shot,” Ivanoff said. “Colton is pretty ice cold when he’s open on that baseline.”

Girls

Shishmaref 43, Tri-Valley 39

In the first game of the day, the Northern Lights of Shishmaref found themselves up by three points over the Tri-Valley Warriors at halftime, and instead of heading to the locker room, they decided to stay on the court and get up some more shots. It paid immediate dividends as they opened the third quarter with an 11-0 run, which proved to be pivotal in the end as Tri-Valley tried to mounted a late comeback and got within two points with less than 30 seconds left to play. But Shishmaref’s cushion was just big enough to get keep the comeback from being completed.

The Warriors had a pair of players reach double figures in scoring, led by Iris Wappel with a game-high 23 points. Shishmaref had one player reach double digits, with Loretta Sinnok leading the team with 11 points.

Hoonah 25, Scammon Bay 20

In the lowest-scoring game of the first session, the only player to reach double figures in scoring was Hoonah sophomore Jora Savland. Savland nearly had a triple by leading the winning team with 10 points, eight rebounds and seven steals.

Fort Yukon 55, Cook Inlet Academy 20

The reigning state champions began their title defense with a bang as they cruised to an opening-round victory over the Eagles. Fort Yukon dominated on both ends of the court, forcing 42 turnovers to 19 for Cook Inlet and having a pair of players reach double figures in scoring. Leading the charge for Fort Yukon both in scoring and on the boards was junior Kylee Carroll, who recorded a game-high 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Akiuk (Kasigluk) 33, Klawock 16

After being held to just three points in the first quarter, the Akiuk Grizzlies outscored the Klawock Chieftains 30-7 in the remaining three, including a fourth-quarter 8-0 shutout. While Natalia Slim was the only player on either team to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points, her Akiuk teammate, Chloe Wassillie, came up one point shy of a double-double with nine points and game-high 18 rebounds.

Bristol Bay 51, Davis Ramoth (Selawik) 38

The Bristol Bay Angels went from trailing five points after the first quarter to being up by 10 points at halftime following a 19-4 run in the second. Even though they could only muster nine points in the third quarter, they held the Davis Ramoth Wolves to just four points for the second straight period, which made them getting outscored 15-13 in the fourth not impact the final outcome. Bristol Bay’s Olivia Harvilla nearly notched a double-double by leading all players with a game-high 21 points and finished second on the team with eight rebounds.

Napaaqtugmiut (Noatak) 66, Nunamiut 16

Napaaqtugmiut School, from the Northwest community of Noatak, dominated from start to finish. Napaaqtugmiut’s Brooke Schaeffer was the only player in double figures with 19.

Shaktoolik 58, Emmonak 30

Annette Paniptchuk led nine Shaktoolik players to score with 14 points in an easy 58-30 win. Emmonak’s Khia Teganlakla led all scorers with 19.

Newhalen 72, Aniak 28

Newhalen scored at least 22 points in each of the first three quarters in an easy opening-round win. Newhalen’s Dannika Wassillie scored 20 points to lead all scorers while Sierra Lang’s 13 was high scorer for Aniak.

Boys

Cook Inlet Academy 63, Scammon Bay 39

The first boys game of the day pitted Eagles against Eagles and saw the flock from Soldotna soar past the one from Southwest Alaska. Leading the charge for Cook Inlet Academy was junior Alek McGarry, who accounted for nearly half of the team’s total points with a game-high 30, which included going 3-of-4 from behind the arc. He also recorded five rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists.

Tri-Valley 57, Chief Paul Memorial (Kipnuk) 41

The Tri-Valley Warriors used a dominant opening quarter — in which they outscored the Falcons 15-2 — to propel themselves to a dominant victory as they outpaced their foes the rest of the way. Tri-Valley had three players record double figures, led by senior Michael Renshaw with 18 points, and got a double-double from sophomore Isaiah Mayo, who finished with 11 points and led with a game-high 10 rebounds.

Minto 63, Nunamiut 51

The Minto Lakers built up a sizeable lead in the first half, scoring 20 points in each of the first two quarter. That served them well: Even though the Nunamiut Amaguq outscored them 33-23 after halftime, Minto was still able to come out on top in the end. Leading all players in scoring was Minto’s Jonathon David Jr. with 24 points, and he came up one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.

Shaktoolik 78, Akiachak 53

Shaktoolik jumped out to a 23-7 lead after the first quarter and never looked back in cruising to the win. Seth Paniptchuk led Shaktoolik with a game-high 34 points.

Davis Ramoth 78, Skagway 71 (OT)

Davis Ramoth, from the Northwest Alaska village of Selawik, went to overtime to top Skagway 78-71. Gavin Hanshaw (28 points) and Brennen Stalker (26) had big games for Davis Ramoth while Skagway’s Royce Borst led all scorers with 30 points.

Manokotak 80, Emmonak 64

Jethron Nanalook scored 40 points to lead Manokotak to a runaway win over Emmonak. His teammate Nevaeh Gloko added 24 while Emmonak’s leading scorer was Connor Hootch with 35.

ASAA 1A State Championship Tournament

At Alaska Airlines Center

Girls

Wednesday’s results

Shishmaref 43, Tri-Valley 39

Hoonah 25, Scammon Bay 20

Fort Yukon 55, Cook Inlet Academy 20

Akiuk (Kasigluk) 33, Klawock 16

Bristol Bay 51, Davis Ramoth 38

Napaaqtugmiut (Noatak) 66, Nunamiut 16

Shaktoolik 58, Emmonak 30

Newhalen 72, Aniak 28

Thursday’s quarterfinals

Fort Yukon v. Bristol Bay at 8 a.m.

Akiuk v. Napaaqtugmiut (Noatak) at 9:30 a.m.

Hoonah v. Shaktoolik at 3:15 p.m.

Shishmaref v. Newhalen at 4:45 p.m.

Boys

Wednesday’s results

Cook Inlet Academy 63, Scammon Bay 39

Shishmaref 57, Buckland 55

Tri-Valley 57, Chief Paul Memorial (Kipnuk) 41

Kake 61, King Cove 41

Minto 63, Nunamiut 51

Shaktoolik 78, Akiachak 53

Davis Ramoth 78, Skagway 71 (OT)

Manokotak 80, Emmonak 64

Thursday’s quarterfinals

Shaktoolik vs. Minto, 11 a.m.

Manokotak vs. Tri-Valley, 12:30 p.m.

Kake vs. Shishmaref, 6:15 p.m.

Davis Ramoth vs. Cook Inlet Academy, 7:45 p.m.

Division 2A boys basketball tournament

At Alaska Airlines Center

First round

Thursday’s games

No. 2 Metlakatla vs. No. 7 Chevak, 8 a.m.

No. 4 Seward vs. No. 5 Wrangell, 9:30 a.m.

No. 3 Cordova vs. No. 6 Su Valley, 3:15 p.m.

No. 1 Unalakleet vs. No. 8 Effie Kokrine, 4:45 p.m.

Division 2A girls basketball tournament

At Alaska Airlines Center

First round

Thursday’s games

No. 1 Metlakatla vs. No. 8 Chevak, 11 a.m.

No. 3 Seward vs. No. 6 Cordova, 12:30 p.m.

No. 2 Unalakleet vs. No. 7 Su Valley, 6:15 p.m.

No. 4 Glennallen vs. No. 5 Haines, 7:45 p.m.