- Job cuts at the National Parks could make the parks less safe and less accessible, advocates say.
- NPS employees who had positions terminated included a wide range of roles.
- Advocates say the cuts could cause “disarray,” especially during the busy summer season.
Though they may be called “America’s Best Idea,” the national parks could be in trouble due to job cuts made by the Trump administration, National Park Service employees and advocates told Business Insider.
Thousands of employees have been terminated between the National Park Service and the US Forest Service, both of which manage public lands, according to media reports and Democratic lawmakers who criticized the moves.
“These cuts are completely non-strategic,” Neal Desai, pacific regional director for the National Park Conservation Association, or NPCA, told BI. “Frankly, they’re an attack on the notion of ‘America First.'”
The White House did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment about the reason for the terminations. Previously, President Donald Trump has defended widespread cuts in the federal government, saying they’re part of an effort to reduce fraud and waste.
An NPCA spokesperson told BI that several parks have lost significant portions of their staff, including fee collectors and administrators who process and train seasonal staff that keep the parks running in the busy season.
Workers targeted for termination represent a wide range of roles, including employees who collect entry fees, maintain park facilities, educate park visitors, and work on search and rescue operations, the spokesperson said.
The National Park Service and the Department of the Interior did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
Desai said the cuts show “a lack of awareness of how these things play out on the ground,” adding that the parks were already understaffed. According to the NPCA, park staffing has already been down 20% since 2010 despite a 16% increase in visitors.
At the end of 2018, when the government shutdown affected staffing at national parks, bathrooms were locked, but because people could still enter many of the parks, visitors reported seeing piles of toilet paper near the facilities and pileups of trash. Destinations such as Joshua Tree National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park closed temporarily due to “human waste” issues, staff said on their websites at the time. Trails left unmaintained were deemed unsafe, and there were fewer emergency services to help visitors.
“People visiting are going to find their parks in disarray if the cuts are not reversed,” Desai said.
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, comprised of current and former NPS employees and volunteers, said in a statement that the busy season is coming for many national parks and that now should be the time to recruit, hire, and train seasonal staff.
“The consequences will be severe: visitor centers will close, lines will grow longer, and basic maintenance — such as cleaning restrooms and facilities — will suffer,” Phil Francis, chair of the group’s Executive Council, said. “Millions of Americans who cherish their national parks may find them inaccessible, poorly maintained, or unsafe.”
Beth Pratt, the California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, also told BI the cuts seemed “arbitrary” and could have cascading impacts on the parks and the surrounding local communities.
She said the administration could’ve at least chosen to ask park managers to make budget cuts that would allow them to prioritize roles as needed, but instead opted for “indiscriminate” cuts.
Without staffing, the impacts could be swift and long-lasting, she said. For instance, park staff helps deter vandalism and prevent trash from overflowing, which can attract bears that can become a nuisance or danger to humans and must be put down.
“They need a lot of managing to ensure they stay natural,” Pratt said of the national parks.
Felicia Jimenez, who worked seasonal jobs with the National Park Service from 2021 to 2023, said it’s been “devastating” to witness these job cuts and see friends terminated.
“Quite honestly, I think it is so incredibly short-sighted to cut staff at these parks because they are so necessary to run them,” Jimenez, who worked as a ranger at Katmai National Park and Muir Woods National Monument, told BI.
She said not only is the park service losing hardworking and highly skilled staff, but that “the public is also losing so much too.”
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