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Trump Administration Directs National Parks To Stay Open Despite Staffing Shortages
Six weeks after mass layoffs slashed the size of the workforce in America’s National Park Service (NPS), Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has issued an order requiring parks to “remain open and accessible to the American public during the specified hours of operation.”
Roughly 1,000 NPS workers were laid off in February. Some of those workers have since been offered their jobs back, although not all accepted. The NPS was also granted an exemption to a government-wide hiring freeze, enabling the agency to hire more seasonal workers. Despite this, staffing shortages have led some parks to reduce operating hours and close some campgrounds and trails.
The new order, issued last Thursday, now requires parks to seek approval from the NPS Director and the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks before reducing hours or services.
National parks advocates have criticized the move, saying it’s reckless to force parks to remain open without enough staff to ensure visitor safety or responsible resource management. “This ill-conceived policy flies in the face of responsible management of national parks, risking both visitor safety and the very resources the Park Service was created and is mandated to protect,” said Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association in a statement. Brengel called the order reckless, out of touch, and “micromanagement at its worst.”
In contrast, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) praised the move in a separate statement. “As we head into the summer months, millions of Americans and visitors from around the world will be enjoying our beautiful national parks. Secretary Burgum is making sure the National Park Service is carrying out its mission to welcome visitors and provide them with the best possible experience.”
Burgum’s order states that the Department of the Interior, of which the NPS is a part, “shall take action to ensure that NPS is properly staffed to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit,” although it is not clear what this means or how it would be accomplished.
One day after the order was issued, the National Park Service offered many employees a buyout — in which workers would voluntarily resign but remain on the payroll until September — for the second time this year.
Featured image: An NPS ranger leads a hike in Glacier National Park in 2019. GlacierNPS, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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Comments 7
It’s public land. Why should it close? Are you having a COVID moment, by any chance?
Park rangers do a lot and if they’re not properly staffed, a park can’t operate as it should.
Who cleans up after the millions of Americans and visitors from around the world? Who comes to help them when they get injured? Who stops them from driving off the road and damaging fragile ecosystems? We have a small NPS park near me, and it gets CROWDED in the spring/summer. It would get completely trashed in a weekend if there were no staff.
I totally understand that the idea of “closing” vast swaths of wilderness feels ridiculous, but most people are congregating in specific areas, falling into specific boiling geysers, and getting trampled by specific bison while taking selfies. They’re not trying to close all the parks. It’s *some* parks limiting their hours due to staffing constraints. I’m going to trust hard working folks on the ground.
So what is this staff shortage? 10%? Work it out. So parks are closed and 90% of staff drink coffee and collect a check? Sounds like a management changes should follow.
This is like cities that call for a tax increase and the officials come out and say if it doesn’t pass there will be cuts in the police and fire departments. Scare tactics.
Sure 10% may not sound like alot but that means instead of say the Delaware Water Gap NRA having 300 people working there there is now 270. So who is lost?
How many of the are part of the SAR team to save you when you fall into a ravine? How many of them lead the season trail maintenance crews to make sure you don’t go i to that ravine? How many of them pateol the 64,000 acres of that park looking to make sure issues don’t get out of hand? How many of them are helping reverse the proliferation of invasive species that we helped bring?
I mean I can go on but if you are ever part of an org like this you know you are already underfunded and short on the number of employees already and then this happens and you end up thinking, where will it fail because we lack the money and manpower?
Maybe you were wronged once or twice, sorry that happened but its not about you but all 340+ million of us.
Reckless government spending created this problem. Now it’s all catching up. Hopefully soon the current government can get back to acting responsibly with the mess that was left for them.
Reckless government spending created this problem. Now it’s all catching up. Hopefully soon the current government can get back to being normal with the mess that was left for them.
Off topic and random question…but did you happen to go through Benning in 1995??