On February 14th, I woke up to a message from one of my friends telling me that 4,500 workers had been fired from the National Park Service. That there were now only 1 or 2 full time employees managing the massive territories of Yosemite and Yellowstone.
I would learn later that this information was, thankfully, false, but roughly 1,000 full time employees had still been fired.
As someone who is fiercely passionate about nature, the environment, and was hoping to one day work in a national park as a ranger or park scientist, this series of events left me scared. I was worried for my own future. Going to work for the government was my ultimate goal, and with so many jobs cut, it suddenly became clear that they likely wouldn’t be looking for people to replace that slash.
I’m fine, though. I still have time before I have to worry about where I’m going to work, and there’s so many private organizations, state parks, and corporations that could use my skills. The thousand rangers, scientists, administrators, and specialists that were essential to park functions didn’t have that time. Those people, too, were working in what they were passionate about, had specifically wanted to do this work regardless of payment, and were fired for it anyway.
The National Park Service layoffs are part of an effort from the Trump administration to downsize the federal workforce. Controversially, Elon Musk has played a major role in these cuts, but the goal to lessen layers of bureaucracy and eliminate excess is fair. In fact, I’m all for cuts to excess in the government! A reevaluation of how resources are being allocated can be very insightful, but when you’re cutting away too many jobs from an agency that is already understaffed, the consequences can be detrimental.
National Park Service employees are responsible for a wide variety of tasks and jobs. They maintain park facilities, keep parks clean, educate visitors, study the ecosystems of the parks, conduct search and rescue for missing visitors, put out small fires, and track trends in air quality, animal populations, and water quality. All these functions are essential to not only enjoying visits to national parks, but tracking changes in climate and researching some of the few remaining untouched parts of American wilderness.
Without people to facilitate these jobs, not only will visiting National parks be less enjoyable, but the safety of parks is also put at risk. With less people to conduct search and rescue, more people will go missing and add to the already staggering number of lost hikers and visitors. Forest fires will be more likely to occur with rangers unable to manage vulnerable areas and enforce proper fire safety. The cleanliness of the parks will go down, uninformed people will get hurt, and any research involving federal employees is put at risk.
Since the mass layoff, 50 some jobs have been restored and there’s been a pledge to hire 7,700 additional seasonal workers to help in the starting busy season. To compare, an average 6,350 workers have been hired for seasonal jobs for the past three years.
These efforts to lessen the damage of layoffs, however, won’t make up for the loss of 1,000 park service workers. People in human resources who would have helped hire workers and train them for warmer months are gone, and it will be difficult to fill so many seasonal positions in such a short time.
I, personally, am scared and worried for the upcoming busy season. I’m not one to go and visit parks, and I’m sadly not able to work as a park employee myself, but knowing what could happen in only the next couple months is terrifying. America’s national parks are, in my opinion, some of the greatest things this country has to offer. With climate change making summers more extreme, less people out in the field to conserve and protect these areas could mean losing so much.
The national park service layoffs can only mean bad things ahead for the remaining life in the parks, not to mention the damage to the thousand plus people who have had their lives uprooted and dreams ruined. For most of us, there’s nothing to do but wait and see how things pan out, but if you’re able and willing to work a seasonal job, do so! If you’re visiting a national park this summer, practice proper etiquette and be respectful to the park and its employees. None of them asked to get cut, and it’s up to the public to help lessen the impact.