ANNALS OF TRUMPI$TAN: Trump Shrank Staffing of National Parks. See How Many Are Struggling. (Eileen Sullivan, NY Times, August 27, 2025)

Come speak out on September 2, 2025 at St. Johns County Commission as we honor retiring National Park Service Superintendent Gordon Wilson, who leads the Castillo de San Marco National Monument and Fort Matanazas National Monument.  From The New York Times:

Trump Shrank Staffing of National Parks. See How Many Are Struggling.

Amid deep cuts, more than 90 parks have reported problems like lost revenue and cuts to emergency services. One expert called this “a dangerous path.”

By Eileen Sullivan

Photographs and Video by Erin Schaff

Graphics by Ani Matevosian

Eileen Sullivan, who covers changes to the federal work force in the Trump administration, interviewed dozens of current and former parks employees and advocates. Erin Schaff spent six days photographing Zion National Park. Ani Matevosian mapped the parks that have reported issues.

• Aug. 27, 2025Updated 8:01 a.m. ET
  
  
  National parks across the United States have welcomed millions of visitors this summer to enjoy their fragile beauty, wildlife and ecosystems. But at least one-fifth of the country’s 433 parks have been significantly strained and understaffed because of steep cuts mandated by the Trump administration, according to internal government data obtained by The New York Times.
  Staffing at the National Park Service had been steadily shrinking in the past decade because of tightened budgets. But it has lost 24 percent of its permanent employees since President Trump took office, according to data compiled by the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association. Among those who left: more than 1,800 park workers who accepted the administration’s resignation initiatives, devised to quickly reduce the size of government.
  Despite the reduced staffing, the Trump administration has directed all national parks to remain open. In July alone, more than 41 million people visited a park, down slightly from last year.
  More than 90 national parks reported problems between April and the end of July stemming from departures, cuts and a hiring freeze, according to internal Interior Department data. Routine tasks like cleaning and stocking the bathrooms have gone undone. Fewer rangers have given tours and lectures. Visitor centers have reduced hours. And parks have lost millions of dollars because they are unable to staff entrances and collect visitor fees.
  “Budget cuts and staff reductions have set our national parks on an unsustainable and dangerous path,” said Phil Francis, a 40-year veteran of the park service and the chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, an advocacy group of current and former national park employees.
  Budget cuts and staff reductions have set our national parks on an unsustainable and dangerous path,” said Phil Francis, a 40-year veteran of the park service and the chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, an advocacy group of current and former national park employees. “Some of the impacts of the staff cuts are visible to the public, but many are not yet. And all of this is only going to get worse.”
  

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  Visitors at Zion National Park in Utah this month.

  Mr. Trump has yet to nominate someone to run the National Park Service, an agency that is part of the Interior Department.

  A spokeswoman for the Interior Department, Aubrie Spady, called the findings by The Times “erroneous,” but declined to address any specifics. “Staffing levels and operations at our national parks this summer are on par with previous years,” Ms. Spady said in a statement. She did not respond to a request for information about the number of employees working in the park this summer or last summer.

  The department’s secretary, Doug Burgum, has also defended the agency’s staffing.

  “We believe we have enough people to support all the programs we had last year this year,” Mr. Burgum told House members on June 12.

  
  

  But lawmakers from both parties are skeptical and said the administration is endangering the country’s “best idea,” as the writer Wallace Stegner once described the national parks.

  “If the park service was overstaffed or is overstaffed, and if there’s waste, show it to us,” Senator Angus King, independent of Maine, said in a recent interview. “Show us the data. Show us the numbers of people, where they are, which positions you feel are unnecessary or shouldn’t be funded.”

  Entrance fees are going uncollected

  Video

  

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  The staffing shortage has meant that there are fewer people available to collect fees at the parks that charge for admission — allowing visitors to enter without paying.

  About 80 percent of the fees collected at parks go toward improving the visitor experience, such as maintaining buildings and trails and protecting natural resources. The other 20 percent is divided among parks that do not charge entrance fees or collect little revenue.

  At Zion National Park in Utah, the partial staffing at fee entrance stations is projected to add up to $2 million in lost revenue this year, according to park figures as of late July.

  People were “flocking into the park without paying — it was criminal,” said Julie Maner of New York, a longtime park-goer who now owns a nearby condo where she lives several months of the year. “They’re losing a heck of a lot more money than whatever they’re saving.”Joshua Tree reported that it was not able to do as much of what it called “preventative search and rescue” because one of the rangers who does that task has been reassigned to collect fees and backfill other vacancies.

  This type of work includes having a ranger stationed at trail heads to make sure hikers have enough water on a hot and dry day, said Mr. Mow, the former Glacier superintendent.

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  Zion National Park had more than 500 emergency responses in 2024.

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  The park’s search and rescue team is about 10 percent smaller than it was a year ago.

  “Intercepting unprepared visitors is the best way to reduce search and rescue incidents,” the park noted in its report.

  The National Park Service has been facing criticism for its lifeguard shortage, which the administration says is a nationwide problem. Park leaders at Assateague Island, the Gateway Beaches and Fire Island reported hiring fewer seasonal lifeguards this year.

  Shortages are creating uncertainty

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  Morale among park staff is at an all-time low, many employees said.

  The 90 parks that reported problems to the Interior Department related to staffing shortages is likely an undercount, as several dozen were not listed as providing any information and advocates said others that reported no problems actually have critical vacancies.

  Even as administration officials acknowledge the bipartisan popularity of national parks, it wants to cut about $1.2 billion next year from the National Park Service — more than one-third of its 2025 budget.

  Morale among park staff is at an all-time low, many employees said.

  Mr. Vela, the former acting parks director, said he is struggling to reconcile the administration’s commitment to saving taxpayer money with the sharp cuts it is making at the park service.

  In 2023, the agency reported that visitor spending in communities near parks contributed $55.6 billion to the economy nationwide and supported more than 414,000 jobs.

  And the funding for the parks service typically represents a fraction of a percent of the total federal budget, Mr. Vela said.

  “It is a huge return on investment,” he said. “Here you have a situation where you’re bringing in revenue and you’re leaving money at the door.”

  Eileen Sullivan is a Times reporter covering the changes to the federal work force under the Trump administration.

  Erin Schaff is a photojournalist for The Times, covering stories across the country.

  See more on: U.S. Politics, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Douglas Burgum, Donald Trump

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