The State of Conservation in the U.S.

The struggle for survival and hope in the green-collar sector

Hello all. I’m Jackson Hoeke, a biologist and artist from Portland, OR. Another member of the Geddry family, I wanted to speak to some of my recent experiences and their implications in the green-collar sector. I’ve worked in both marine and freshwater biology, including mountain creeks and the deep sea, and have always enjoyed painting my research topics. I hope you enjoy my article and I hope to have more soon.

Environmental lawyer James Gustave Speth once said, “I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I thought that with thirty years of good science we could address the problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we [lawyers and] scientists don’t know how to do that.”

Last Monday, I was let go from my job as a biological technician working in the fisheries sector. This happened only a few months after relocating to Portland for my company after they insisted there would be more consistent work there. While disappointing, my situation isn’t uncommon with green-collar jobs. Even in 2024, I remember applying to job after job attempting to secure something. I remade my resume, wrote fresh cover letters for every application, and even landed interviews that I thought at the time had gone remarkably well. I graduated with my Master’s degree in May, and it took until December to land my previous job.

Environmental science has always fought an uphill struggle (sometimes losing) against extractive state and corporate interests. The Save the Redwoods League has protected some of the last old growth redwoods in the world, but that’s only 4% of the original old growth for coast redwoods. Even Yellowstone, our first national park, had its protective funding temporarily stripped away in the 1880s. Yet in January of 2025, things began getting much worse.

NOAA, NSF, and the EPA went through extensive job cuts and defunding. These departments provided much of the grant funding for environmental study and restoration projects in the country. This in turn led to many state and corporate organizations laying off employees and canceling essential projects for maintaining national forests, parks, and sanctuaries. Since then, not only has the EPA been turned against us under Lee Zeldin, going so far as to propose weakening standards for the disposal of coal ash, but the lack of funding causes PhDs to apply to even mere seasonal positions to stay employed in the sector. This has been a major hurdle for young conservationists finding starting positions in the field as they compete with far more senior and experienced scientists for the same entry-level work. From my own experience and co-workers’ I’ve learned that the only halfway reliable method to get work is to be willing to move on a seasonal basis, a difficult ask for those who’ve begun to settle and even more so for those with family.

For many of those in conservation the only way to stay in the field is to volunteer, which is unfortunate. While volunteering has always been an essential part of conservation, you can’t live off it. All the time spent earning degrees, researching, publishing, and collecting data no longer translates into a job, much less one that provides stable income. The essential labor of maintaining habitats, restoring the ecosystem infrastructure that upholds our planet, and educating the public on its necessity now must be given for free, with no compensation in many cases. Even something as crucial as recording changing weather patterns has been hampered by NOAA job cuts, making even basic data to warn of natural disasters (increasing in frequency along with climate change) difficult to procure.

This isn’t to say that scientists, technicians, and environmental managers are giving up. Most of us are here because we are extremely passionate about our planet and future. We have, do, and will continue to volunteer for the causes we believe in. But now most of us must find work to survive first and volunteer second as opposed to those being one and the same. And the funding that once assisted organizations to form and recruit volunteers has been stripped, putting yet more burden on volunteers to give time and energy to our causes.

This is demoralizing. And it’s no accident either. Everything from defunding and corrupting the governmental organizations meant to protect our environment, to pushing for mining the Boundary Waters (some of the cleanest freshwater in the country), to attempting to cut the last old-growth forests in Oregon is part of a clear and accelerating trend of destroying the morale of anyone who wants to protect the natural world. The message is clear: You cannot protect anything. We are far more powerful than you, and your passion will not stop us from tearing apart your beloved planet for profit.

This is not new to environmentalists. Working in conservation is a wonderful opportunity, but it gives you a front-row seat to the destruction of nature. I cannot list the number of times during my last job where I had to drive past or walk through a clear-cut and felt the weight of loss. A barren wasteland where there should be temperate rainforest, covered in glyphosate so any “unwanted” plants won’t grow. The only trees for miles a plantation of identical douglas-fir that mocks the idea of a forest.

And then there’s the news of another wildfire. Another species gone extinct, another coral reef bleached. It feels like we’re fighting a battle that’s already lost, and the most we can do is put a band-aid on the cancer eating away at our planet. At the same time we can’t give up or the bit of resistance that’s kept any of our natural world safe will crumble and accelerate the damage. It’s exhausting, and every day seems to ask more.

But while that is true, there is a better world in the future. Not the same world, but one free from the excesses of capital. Where rivers run free, forests prosper for thousands of years, and whole coral reefs regrow from the cemeteries of their ancestors. This is possible, but if we allow ourselves to surrender to the bottomless greed of the elite, then it will never come to pass. We’ve seen pieces of this already. Species like the bald eagle, American alligator, and even the humble Oregon chub have crawled back from the brink of extinction to their populations today, which are no longer endangered. Just this month, the Blue and Gold timber project that began cutting some of the last old-growth forest near Yoncalla, OR was stopped by judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai and the BLM was told to start its environmental assessment for the project over from scratch.

The current climate, both weather and political, is set against every conservationist right now. The few highly competitive jobs remaining halt the careers of both novice and veteran scientists. The spread of misinformation by the EPA gives fossil fuel companies more opportunities to turn back the clock on protections. Yet despite all this the passion of everyone working to protect our planet refuses to be extinguished. I’m unclear on the precise course of action moving forward, but while the actions of the Trump administration are a new low in modern climate policy, they are only the latest in the constant battle waged by capital on the plant and the people living on it. New environmental protections will be stymied until not only the Trump administration is removed from power entirely, but a new foundation in government climate responsibility is laid down to prevent such backsliding from happening in the future. We need the “spiritual and cultural transformation” Speth speak of. We must continue to organize and fight for our planet, despite our differences. And the only way forward is through.