Among the National Park Service workers who found themselves casualties of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) downsizing efforts in February, eight were employed by the Vicksburg National Military Park (VNMP).

According to information presented during the March Vicksburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau board meeting – of those eight employees – one took the early buyout plan offered by the federal government, while the remaining seven employees were considered “probational,” which refers only to their employment in their current positions being less than one year and does not indicate the workers were on “probation” regarding conduct or performance.

Of the seven employees terminated, one was a fee collector, while four had been hired as full time maintenance staff. The maintenance employees were hired to not only provide mowing services during the summer months, but to also help when upkeep was needed for landslides and road repairs.

The VNMP also lost its educational specialist, a new hire whose position replaced a previously vacated ranger position. According to the VCVB report, although there will still be some educational programming, it will be very limited and at this time there will be no junior ranger camps scheduled.

An archeologist who had been working as the lead in the National Cemetery project was also terminated. The National Cemetery project lead was in charge of the remains of almost 104 unknown American soldiers who were disinterred due to the stabilization of the grounds. Work by the archaeologist and corresponding team has included the processing of artifacts associated with the burial recovery, working toward DNA analysis and restoring the identity of the disinterred and unknown soldiers.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that three, instead of four, full time maintenance staff had been terminated. We apologize for the error and are happy to set the record straight.