ASHEVILLE, N.C (828newsNOW) — Who keeps our food safe? Who takes care of our public parks? Who takes care of our veterans?
Those questions and many others were posed by the dozens of people gathered in front of the Veach-Baley Federal Building in Asheville on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, protesting the recent firings of thousands of federal employees.
Terminations that started last week have reached Western North Carolina.
According to news reports, the Trump administration has terminated 3,400 U.S. Forest Service workers and 1,000 National Park Service employees — think the Blue Ridge Parkway and Nantahala and Pisgah national forests. Seventeen of those firings impacted people working in Western North Carolina.
Some 1,000 employees were terminated at the Department of Veterans Affairs, though it is not clear whether any of those were connected to the Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Asheville.
Employees at several of the other federal offices in Asheville, like the Federal Climate Complex, were also worried about their jobs being on the chopping block.
MORE COVERAGE
U.S. Forest Service chopped: 17 NC employees laid off in DOGE blitz
Is the future of the Forest Service in flames after firings? Ask Jenifer Bunty
