Army veteran Isabella Isaksen worked for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in Central Oregon until she became one of the thousands of federal public servants unjustly fired by the Trump Administration.
Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley announced that his guest to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday will be Isabella Isaksen—a U.S. Army veteran and Olympian—who recently served as the public affairs officer for Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland in Central Oregon.
Isaksen was one of thousands of federal public servants in Oregon and across the United States who was abruptly and illegally removed from her job. The mass purge of employees is harming families, the economy, and the government’s ability to provide essential services in communities nationwide.
“Isabella and many other federal workers across Oregon had the rug pulled out from under them by Trump and his unelected billionaire sidekick Elon Musk. Let’s be clear: workers like Isabella aren’t fraud, government waste, or numbers on a spreadsheet. They’re real people performing essential everyday duties in our communities,” Merkley said. “As a veteran, Olympian, and protector of our public lands, Isabella has served our country with grit and integrity. Isabella agreed to bear witness to this speech with me, as she and thousands of other public servants across this nation deserve an explanation for why they were illegally fired without any consideration to the immense expertise, value, and economic benefits they bring to our communities.“
“The mass firings of federal workers pose a direct threat to the health and safety of our communities, the public, and those who rely on these jobs,” said Isaksen. “I’m honored to join Senator Merkley at the address to Congress to highlight the devastating impact of these cuts on fire response, the economic and ecological health of local communities, and those of us who have dedicated our lives to serving the American people.”
Isabella Isaksen has a long history of honorably serving our nation. In 2016, she represented the United States as a modern pentathlete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. A year later, she became one of the first women in the U.S. Army to become a field artillery soldier, which is a combat arms specialty.
After retiring from the military, she moved to Oregon to work for the USFS, where she communicated critical public health and safety information so Central Oregonians could stay safe and connected during the destructive 2024 wildfire season. Without this position, and countless others in the USFS that provide essential support to fire crews, Oregon’s public lands, industries, and communities are at great risk.
As the top Democrat on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Merkley is at the forefront of fighting for wildfire prevention and recovery funding, as well as pushing back against harmful cuts that endanger public lands and the workforce that protects them. Since Trump took office, some of these efforts include leading the call in the Senate for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to immediately take action to resolve looming staffing shortages at the National Park Service; raising the alarm on federal seasonal firefighters not being exempt from the federal hiring freeze; and demanding that payments for critical hazardous fuels mitigation work continue in Oregon and across the West.
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