Federal cuts roundup: The impact on South Dakota

South Dakota state epidemiologist Joshua Clayton said cuts to positions and programs at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could reduce communication on critical diseases in the U.S.

Clayton told News Watch he is aware of cuts by DOGE and what he said is a "communication freeze" at the agency. So far, he doesn't believe the cuts have hampered South Dakota's ability to track or prevent infectious diseases.

But the potential exists, Clayton said, that information sharing between the federal agency and states — in both directions — could be hampered if the CDC is unable to track infectious diseases and inform states of updates as usual. The lack of communication is likely to make it more difficult for states to keep abreast of fast-moving diseases, such as avian flu or the measles outbreak in the Southwest, Clayton said.

"The communications freeze does make it difficult sometimes to hear about things that we should have awareness at the state health department level," Clayton said. "Due to some of their communication freeze, (CDC) has not been as communicative around the H5N1 (bird flu) response as they had been in the past in early January and before."

Based on what he has heard, the communication reduction at CDC has affected other states more than South Dakota, Clayton said.

"I don't know at this point who has all been removed from the federal roles. But for those that I'm aware of that have affected some other jurisdictions, thankfully not South Dakota, that has impacted some of their capabilities, whether that's direct follow up and response by losing epidemiology staff or in those that are conducting those investigations," he said.

"The manner in which people have been removed from positions, and the communications freeze, do make it difficult sometimes to hear about things that we should have awareness of at the state health department level."

By Bart Pfankuch

Rodney Koch, who raises soybeans and other crops north of Garretson, in eastern South Dakota, hopes the federal government will re-open funding for agricultural conservation programs that have helped him modernize and improve the health of his farm.

Koch, 38, has previously taken advantage of grants and training provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Improvement Program, both of which are now halted under Trump’s freeze on almost all federal grant and loan programs.

Koch said he has also been told that a few employees have lost their jobs at South Dakota offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which administers several USDA programs.

According to the NRCS website, "as the USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency, (NRCS) we generate, manage, and share the data, technology, and standards that enable partners and policymakers to make decisions informed by objective, reliable science."

With new knowledge and some grant funding from USDA, Koch has been able to improve soil health on his farm, reduce runoff, lower pesticide use and diversify the crops he grows. Without the federal assistance, it is unlikely he would have known what to do or be able to afford to make positive changes in his operation, he said.

“I’ve seen what these changes have done for us and I’d like to see that continue,” Koch told News Watch on Feb. 20. “To convert from a full tillage system to no-till, or add a crop into your crop rotation, or try cover cropping ... there’s a ton of different incentives.”

Koch said farmers tend to do what they have done in the past or what their ancestors did. The USDA programs, he said, can “jumpstart” efforts by farmers to engage in more progressive and precision agricultural operations.

"It comes down to education, some grant funding and somebody to work with you to make some changes,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to always do what you’ve done or what you’ve been taught, and that’s nothing against the generations before me, but we’ve got to continue to evolve.”

Doug ​​​​​Sombke, president of the South Dakota Farmers Union, said "we've got a lot of pain" with NRCS layoffs and also the uncertain status of Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan officers, who help administer programs and loans for farmers and ranchers.

In a statement to News Watch, a USDA spokesperson said: "As part of this (cost-cutting) effort, USDA has released individuals in their probationary period of employment. Secretary (Brooke) Rollins understands the array of mission critical positions and programs at the department, and she will ensure that those areas have the resources and personnel they need to continue serving the American people.”

The FSA cuts extend to real estate, according to the DOGE “Wall of Receipts” website. Among the federal savings listed is the closure of the Codington County Farm Services Agency in Watertown, with “termination details still being finalized.”

The site lists the annual lease cost as $238,328 and total savings as $278,049.

By Bart Pfankuch and Stu Whitney

The oldest agency within the Department of the Interior is the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which provides services to predominantly Native American communities, commonly through contracts and grants.

One of those contracts, awarded to Akicita Cyber LCC of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, was cancelled recently as part of federal funding audits conducted by the Trump administration.

The original contract was for $434,024 to provide translation services as part of business support services. The end date was changed from Sept. 3, 2029, to Feb. 13, 2025, meaning the funds provided decreased from 81% from $434,024 to $81,757.

Mike Shvenderman, CEO of Akicita Cyber LCC, also known as Akicita Federal, confirmed to News Watch that the contract has been cancelled. He did not respond to inquiries about the specifics of the grant nor why it was cut short.

Akicita Federal was federally registered in October 2022 and has received over $21.5M in federal contracts, according to HigherGov.com. The company’s services include medical staffing, construction project management, cybersecurity and business consulting.

By Stu Whitney

Native American tribal leaders in South Dakota are preparing for economic impacts as Congress negotiates a new budget that is expected to include significant cuts across federal programs and services.

Some of the primary concerns center around Medicaid funding, Head Start programs, health programs and public safety.

"These programs are barely surviving on what they get now," John Long, chief of staff of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, told News Watch. "We just had a meeting with our program directors trying to come up with contingency plans if these cuts come, and it's going to be difficult."

Frank Star Comes Out, president of the 54,000-member tribe, testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Feb. 25 in Washington. He addressed concerns about treaty obligations and reductions in law enforcement on the Pine Ridge reservation, a subject of past legal disputes with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

"I believe those treaties are being violated and challenged today with this current administration, and I'd like to see that change," Star Comes Out told committee members. "We're a huge tribe with a large population and lots of area to cover as far as roads and schools, and on top of that, we have to come here and fight for funding for our people."

Nearly 1,000 Indian Health Service (IHS) employees nationally were laid off as part of an executive order Feb. 14, but the order was later rescinded.

By Stu Whitney

The DOGE cuts of probationary employees has included elimination of some staff positions at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in South Dakota, according to Eve Derfelt, a deputy director in the VA public affairs office.

The VA has three South Dakota hospitals — in Sturgis, Hot Springs and Sioux Falls — and operates nine regional clinics, two veterans help centers and three national cemeteries, according to the VA website.

“The VA facilities in South Dakota dismissed a small number of probationary staff,” Derfelt said in an email to News Watch. “This decision will have no negative effect on veteran health care, benefits or other services and will allow VA to focus more effectively on its core mission of serving veterans, families, caregivers and survivors."

Derfelt said she could not provide further information about specific personnel moves due to privacy concerns.

On a national level, Veterans Affairs leaders dismissed more than 1,400 probationary employees on Feb. 24, the second round of mass layoffs at the department this month, according to Military Times.

By Stu Whitney

After DOGE job cuts and an ongoing staffing shortage, former National Park Service employee Sydney Hansen isn't sure whether anyone will be available to lead popular cave tours at Jewel Cave National Monument in the Black Hills moving forward.

Or, for that matter, if anyone will be on the job to pull weeds at the park.

Hansen, 24, was hired as a physical science technician at Jewel Cave in June and was using her master's degree in geology to do research on caves, rocks and soil at the national monument site. She also "wore many hats" at the park, leading discussions to educate the public, working to protect habitat of endangered species and managing invasive species at the park, which included removing weeds from the property.

On Feb. 14, Hansen was in the final stages of training to lead cave tours in preparation of the upcoming summer tourist season. Jewel Cave and Wind Cave national parks are both low on staff to take visitors on the tours, she said.

After emerging from a cave, she received a text message to report to the park office, where she found an email saying she had been terminated from her position.

"My heart just dropped," she recalled in an interview with News Watch. "We were told we were safe if we had a good employee evaluation, so I felt pretty good."

According to recent reports, the park service has eliminated 1,000 jobs and accepted 700 early retirement offers from employees as part of the DOGE employment crackdown. The effects of the cuts are being felt around the country, as visitor centers closed at sites in Arizona, some parks restricted open hours and patron wait times have increased.

Hansen worries for the many park service employees who lost their jobs, but also about what the cuts will mean for the parks and the public. A hiring freeze in the park service won't help fill any gaps, she said.

"It’s only going to get worse, and I can’t even imagine how some of these busy parks are going to operate this summer," she said. "They're going to be hurting."

The most hurtful part of losing her job was the reason the termination letter cited: "The Department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment."

In an October job performance review Hansen provided to News Watch, she received an overall rating of "exceeds expectations" and was complimented repeatedly by her supervisor.

Hansen is uncertain about her future and might seek a job as a substitute teacher to make ends meet. When hired at Jewel Cave, she bought a house in nearby Newcastle, Wyoming, and only has enough money to pay bills for about two months.

"I’m still definitely upset about it and unsure where I’m going to go next because there’s not a lot of jobs in the geology field," she said.

Obtaining details about job cuts within the NPS has been difficult. The state is home to several parks and monuments, including Jewel Caves, Wind Cave, Badlands and Mount Rushmore.

An official at Badlands National Park directed inquiries to a spokeswoman from the NPS Midwest regional office, which oversees South Dakota facilities. The spokeswoman did not return a call from News Watch seeking information or comment.

The employee cuts in NPS drew the attention and ire of a group of 22 Democratic U.S. senators who wrote a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Feb. 7, urging him to undo cuts to staffing at national parks and monuments.

The letter asked Burgum to rescind deferred resignations, early retirement officers and the revocation of offers to seasonal employees within the NPS.

Beyond those position cuts, NPS had rescinded employment offers to about 6,000 seasonal employees who help manage the surge in visitors to parks and monuments in the summer, though the Trump administration said it has since reversed the seasonal worker cuts.

But if the seasonal workers are not hired as promised, the senators warned that, "visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations and interpretation will be unavailable."

The senators noted that in the 2010s, the NPS cut its staffing by 15% at a time when park visitation rose by 15%. The culmination of probationary position cuts, early retirements and threats to eliminate seasonal staffing could put parks and monuments in "chaos."

A Department of Interior report said that in 2023, the national park system attracted 325.5 million visitors and generated $55.6 billion in economic impact. Parks also supported 415,400 local jobs and generated $26.4 billion in revenue for communities surrounding the parks.

"Americans showing up to national parks this summer and for years to come don't deserve to have their vacations ruined by a completely preventable, and completely irresponsible, staffing shortage," said the letter, whose lead author was Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, D-Oregon, ranking member of the subcommittee on interior and environment. "And local economies don't deserve to have their livelihoods destroyed for political gain."

By Bart Pfankuch

A number of federal employees who lost their jobs due to DOGE cuts have taken to social media platforms to share their stories, and their frustration. Here is one example from a South Dakota woman who was ousted in February.

Until last month, Liz Renner, a graduate of Augustana University in Sioux Falls, was rising quickly in her chosen career path as a wildlife biologist.

Not long ago, after a stint working the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department, Renner had landed her "dream job" as a researcher with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service in Yankton. Renner was working on pallid sturgeon conservation on the Missouri River from the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery and Aquarium.

In a lengthy and emotional public Facebook post on Feb. 17, Renner said she was told on Feb. 14 that her probationary position in the agency had been eliminated as part of the widespread federal job cuts made by Musk and DOGE.

Renner did not respond to a News Watch request for an interview.

She wrote that while facing health issues, she had obtained advanced degrees and had worked extremely hard to receive a positive first performance review, undergo continuing education training and be selected to attend a national fisheries leadership academy later in February.

After quickly packing up her things and saying goodbye to co-workers, Renner said she suddenly felt disillusioned about her life.

Renner wrote that after losing her job, she is moving in with her grandmother to help on the farm, and may also tend bar or substitute teach to get by. Renner said the job cut hurts more because many in her family have served the country in military or public service, and she said she is worried over the future strength and stability of the U.S. under its current leadership.

Renner described her feelings about the DOGE cuts in this way:

"To say I'm devastated doesn't even scratch the surface. ... It wasn't just a paycheck to me: it was a calling. I don't expect billionaires who have never scraped by on a graduate stipend eating ramen from a campus food bank or bounced around as an underpaid seasonal technician or worked to collect data in grueling or dangerous weather conditions to understand that level of commitment to conservation, to understand the sacrifices thousands of us have made on behalf of the species and habitats we're passionate about conserving. These sweeping cuts will do immediate and lasting harm to our nation's public lands and waters, to our wildlife and natural resources."

Renner signed off in her message by saying, "With love and rage, Dr. Liz Renner, newly unemployed and unmuzzled." As of March 2, Renner's post had more than 1,500 reactions, 315 comments and 1,000 shares.

By Bart Pfankuch

Funding for South Dakota’s primary refugee resettlement program remains uncertain after it was identified for cuts in early February.

On Feb. 3, Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota president and CEO Rebecca Kiesow-Knudsen responded to social media messages from Musk and former U.S. national security adviser Michael Flynn “falsely claiming that Lutheran organizations, including ours, have illegally received federal payments and engaged in money laundering."

Kiesow-Knudsen added in that statement to News Watch that the messages “indicated an intention to defund our organization as a result. These accusations are completely baseless and inaccurate.”

Kiesow-Knudsen declined comment on Feb. 25.

LSS helps resettle immigrants and refugees through its Center for New Americans. It’s an affiliate of Global Refuge, a nonprofit organization formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.

According to its annual report, LSS helped resettle 386 refugees in South Dakota in fiscal year 2024, up from 206 the previous year. Nationally, the number of resettled refugees was 100,034 in fiscal year 2024, up from 60,014 the previous year.

The most common countries of origin for refugees resettled by LSS in South Dakota in 2024 were the Congo (97), Venezuela (57), and Somalia and Sudan (42 each).

The Trump administration's plan to freeze federal grants and loans is on hold while being litigated in federal court, leaving organizations such as LSS in limbo in terms of the services they can provide.

Organizations submit payment requests that are reimbursed by the federal government. Not knowing when or if those reimbursements are coming could lead to changes in strategies or services rendered.

On Feb. 25, a federal judge in Seattle blocked Trump’s effort to halt the nation’s refugee admissions system through executive order.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by major refugee aid groups, who argued that Trump’s executive order suspending the federal refugee resettlement program ran afoul of the system Congress created for moving refugees into the U.S.

Lawyers for the administration argued that Trump’s order was well within his authority to deny entry to foreigners whose admission to the U.S. “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

A proposed law in the South Dakota Legislature would require LSS and all resettlement agencies to report to the Legislature on an annual basis. HB 1106 passed the House by a vote of 56-12 on Feb. 6 and will next be heard in the Senate.

Read the earlier story.

By Stu Whitney