Workforce cuts raise concerns over national park upkeep

WASHINGTON — Staffing cuts at the National Park Service, where more than 1,700 full-time workers were forced out just before the start of the 2025 tourist season, may be one of the first real tests of public support for the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce.

The impacts are already being seen at the 63 parks and 370 other sites managed and maintained by the Park Service: longer lines at entrances, reduced hours at visitor centers, canceled tours with park rangers and fewer trained staff to help with maintenance issues and emergencies.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is pledging to address the problem by hiring between 5,000 and 7,700 seasonal workers, but insiders say the goal will be difficult to meet before hordes of visitors descend on the parks this spring and summer.

“Because it got started later than would normally be the case and given the paperwork processing, background checks for some, training, housing, etc., I think it is likely that there will be some delay getting all of them on board in parks before the beginning of the ‘busy’ season,” said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.

The Park Service normally has about 20,000 full-time and seasonal employees, but those numbers were reduced in the past six weeks by the firings of about 1,000 probationary employees and buyouts taken by about 700 other full-time employees. The Trump administration also withdrew offers to about 5,000 seasonal workers who had been lined up by the Biden administration.

Even if thousands of seasonal workers are hired soon, it will be difficult for them to do their jobs without a full complement of managers at all the parks, said John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Association, an organization with more than 1.6 million members who support the parks.

“Our sense is that they’re not quite going to be prepared and are just going to resign themselves to have longer lines, which we’re already seeing,” Garder said.

Congressional Republicans overseeing the Park Service are confident Burgum can bring on sufficient staff to keep things safe and enjoyable for visitors, of whom there were more than 330 million last year.

“Secretary Burgum has already announced that seasonal employees are not impacted by the hiring freeze,” said Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., a former Interior secretary who is a member of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee. “According to the park superintendents I’ve spoken to, they are fully prepared for a successful visitor season.”

Leaders of the House and Senate subcommittees on national parks, Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., offered similar assurances in email responses to CQ Roll Call.

“Our national parks are the crown jewels of the United States, and with a busy visitor season coming up, I applaud Secretary Burgum for announcing 5,000 seasonal job openings to help our parks accommodate visitors from far and wide,” Daines said.

Sounding the alarm

Top Democrats on the subcommittees are far more concerned.

“The damage this Administration is inflicting on the National Park Service cannot be overstated,” said Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, the ranking member of the Interior-Environment Appropriations panel.

“Nearly 4 million people visited Acadia National Park in 2024 alone,” Pingree said. “Without adequate staffing — both seasonal and full-time — Acadia and national parks across the country will face serious consequences: strained tourism economies, weakened conservation efforts, and a diminished visitor experience that jeopardizes both safety and park maintenance.”

“I led my colleagues to sound the alarm about the totally preventable staffing shortfall at the National Park Service that will lead to shuttered visitor centers, dangerously slow emergency response times, dirty facilities, and even park closures — unless Donald Trump and [Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon] Musk’s staffing cuts are reversed,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., ranking member of the Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.

“These cuts not only threaten safe access to parks in the upcoming spring break and summer seasons but will also result in long-term damage to the NPS due to the firing of skilled positions like plumbers, engineers, ecologists, and firefighters,” Merkley said.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, said impacts are already being seen at the 24 Park Service units in his state, including Saguaro National Park near Tucson, where the two visitor centers are now closed on Mondays.

“I am deeply concerned by the reports we’re seeing out of Arizona’s parks — closed visitor centers, longer lines, and critical infrastructure projects delayed,” Gallego said. “With spring break right around the corner, I’m worried NPS won’t be able to meet the demand. In the Arizona desert, that isn’t just inconvenient, it’s dangerous.”

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Mazie K. Hirono of Hawaii, all on panels with Park Service oversight, expressed similar concerns.

“The short-sighted decision by DOGE to fire Park Rangers and other staff under false pretenses has created a situation in which our National Parks will not have the personnel necessary to provide the services that visitors have come to expect,” McCollum said.

“It is essential that there is bipartisan support and cooperation for ensuring NPS has what it needs to keep visitors safe, protect our environment, and maintain these national treasures,” Gillibrand said.

Funding issues

Congress faces decisions that will affect park operations this season and for years to come.

The continuing resolution for the rest of fiscal 2025 unveiled by House Republicans over the weekend keeps the Park Service operations budget at $3.3 billion, the same level as fiscal 2024. If lawmakers can’t agree by Friday on a new CR, a partial government shutdown could begin this weekend, which could have dire consequences for the national parks. A monthlong shutdown that started in late 2018 led to closures and vandalism in unattended parks, including the destruction of iconic trees in California’s Joshua Tree National Park.

The Great American Outdoors Act, which Trump signed in 2020 to provide $1.3 billion annually to help the Park Service catch up on more than $20 billion in deferred maintenance projects, expires this year. Most of the key lawmakers surveyed for this story said they would support a new bill to extend or expand that long-term funding.

In the meantime, park advocates are nervously awaiting the start of the busy season, including the National Cherry Blossom Festival from March 20 to April 13 that annually draws more than 1.5 million visitors to the National Mall in Washington.

“These are huge economic drivers,” said Garder of the National Parks Conservation Association. “People love these places. You can’t operate parks without these workers. I’m thinking that if all of this goes south, the public outcry is going to be incredible, man. Hopefully, maybe, Secretary Burgum realizes that.”