An Interior Department Veteran Looks to the Future

Jacob Malcom, founder of Next Interior, shares his fears for the agency and his hopes for a post-Trump reconstruction.

Jul 28, 2025

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This story was originally published at High Country News and is republished here with permission.

Love for the land and for public service broke Jacob Malcom’s heart on Valentine’s Day 2025. That Friday, Feb. 14, he was ordered to terminate probationary employees at the U.S. Department of the Interior as part of sweeping layoffs throughout the federal go…

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A guest post by

Shaun Griswold

Shaun Griswold does journalism from the high-desert elevation deserts in New Mexico. They're a sovereign citizen from the Pueblos of Laguna, Jemez and Zuni who write about Indigenous people living with colonialism.