ANN ARBOR, Mich. — An invasive species program vital to the Great Lakes will continue this year after the Trump administration — and a ruling from a federal judge — reversed its cuts to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
In mid-February, twelve of the agency's full-time, probationary employees contracted by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to work on its sea lamprey control program were laid off in a mass firing of thousands of federal workers known as the Valentine's Day Massacre.
The Trump administration also placed a hiring freeze on the agency, preventing it from hiring the 25 to 30 seasonal workers it annually depends upon to apply lampricide treatments in rivers and streams across the Great Lakes region.
"To have it feel so arbitrary, it was very difficult for all of these people," said Ethan Baker, chair of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. "The people who do this work are extremely dedicated and passionate."
A $1 spending limit on government-issued credit cards also effectively banned travel for USFWS employees.
"It was peanuts compared to the devastating effects that the economy faced as a result of this," Baker said about the cost-cutting measures.
The commission, which was established by a treaty between the United States and Canada to protect the Great Lakes fishery from sea lamprey and other invaders, says the firings would have cost the US $800 to $900 million dollars "in the first year alone."
"This is not a place where you want to trim the fat," Baker said.
Lamprey on the lakes
In the 20th century, sea lamprey laid waste to the Great Lakes commerical fishing industry, chewing through trout, whitefish and ciscoes with their suction cup mouths and rows of sharp teeth.
Through the discovery of a chemical compound lethal to lamprey and harmless to all other aquatic life, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission brought back balance.
Today, the invasive species' population in the Great Lakes has been reduced by about 90 percent as the US Fish and Wildlife Service — contracted by the commission — annually applies the lampricide to rivers and streams in the Great Lakes basin.
READ MORE: Sea lamprey collapsed the Great Lakes commercial fishery. A 'silver bullet' chemical brought it back
Lobbying lawmakers
When the Trump administration's cuts to the federal agency threatened this work, the GLFC went to Washington, D.C. to state its case and also submitted a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, who oversees the USFWS.
"Education, education, education," Baker said. "I've always joked there's no better education as it relates to the lamprey program than bringing out a live sea lamprey and releasing it into the halls of Congress."
Baker also says lawmakers in Michigan and surrounding states, as well as in Canada, are currently — and historically have been — in "lockstep" with the commission.
"The Republicans and the Democrats are fighting on almost every other issue, but for some reason they come together to really support the work being done to control the sea lamprey," he said.
A course, reversed
In March, a federal judge reversed the Trump administration's February firing of probationary workers, ordering for them to be reinstated.
The administration also permitted the US Fish and Wildlife Service to again hire seasonal employees, allowing the sea lamprey control program to begin returning to its normal staffing level.
While the program is nearly two months behind schedule, Baker says the delay will have "minimal effects on the overall lamprey population."
"That's a success and a good story coming out of this," he said.
Baker is "hopeful" the probationary employees who were temporarily out of work will return to their posts at the agency, and adds the Great Lakes Fishery Commission is in a "better position" today, having survived the past several weeks.
"Whether that's next week or next year or the next decade, there will be a plan in place and a better opportunity to provide the [lamprey control program] without depending on so many outside forces," he said. "I know firsthand that there are all good people working hard for this fishery."
