A research center in Columbia studying threats to water quality and natural resources may be axed under President Donald Trump’s push to cut back spending.
The Trump administration has asked U.S. lawmakers to cut $307 million in funding for the biological research program under the U.S. Geological Survey.
That includes the Columbia Environmental Research Center, which for more than 50 years has produced research about contaminants and their effects in the water and on land.
The cuts are included in the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, which must still be approved by Congress, according to Science Magazine, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Over five decades, the Columbia Environmental Research Center has produced significant research to recover the endangered pallid sturgeon, find ways to control invasive carp, help restore native mussel populations and identify contaminants like mercury, lead, copper and PFAS or forever chemicals that threaten species.
Michael Mac, a former director of the center, emphasized the importance of its aquatic research.
“CERC works as a main source of science for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the Missouri River,” he said. “They’re going to lose a big piece of the biological research that was being done.”
According to Science Magazine, an email from the Office of Management and Budget has ordered the USGS to design and submit a plan that would slow and eventually end the activities of its biological research program during the 2026 fiscal year. Any proposed budget cuts would still need to be approved by Congress.
“They’ve been told very clearly they’re not appreciated as government employees,” said Robert Jacobson, a retired hydrologist who worked at the Columbia Environmental Research Center.
The digital staff directory for the center lists over 70 employees, including biologists and other researchers. According to Jacobson, the center could lose 100% of its workforce.
Four employees were laid off in February as a result of federal cuts, KBIA has reported. A number of other employees accepted the “second and final” chance for the Deferred Resignation Program, which could allow some workers to retire early. The deadline to accept deferred resignation was April 14, according to the Federal News Network.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 advised the incoming Trump administration to “abolish the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey and obtain necessary scientific research about species of concern from universities via competitive requests for proposals,” according to a policy guide published in 2023.
Across the USGS, about 1,200 employees, including many scientists, work in the biological research program. They are based in laboratories around the country and in cooperative research units at universities and in partnership with state agencies.
In addition to the work at the Columbia center, USGS scientists study diseases, such as bird flu and the white nose disease in bats. They helped list polar bears on the endangered species list, and they have improved the habitat for elk and other big game species, among other developments.
