Thousands of National Park Service employees have been fired in the last month for the sake of government efficiency.
According to The White House on Feb. 11, President Trump signed an executive order “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ workforce optimization initiative.”
According to NBC 15, over 200,000 federal workers’ positions in various agencies have been eliminated in the weeks since President Donald Trump took office. With billionaire Elon Musk behind the wheel, the newly formed DOGE is the cause of these terminations.
The Park Service terminated roughly 1,000 probationary employees. Probationary employees refer to those who generally have less than a year on the job and long-time serving government employees who may have changed roles or agencies.
“We’ve got a $2 trillion deficit, and if we don’t do something about this deficit, the country is going bankrupt,” Musk told reporters while backing the new executive orders.
The order aims to restore accountability to the American public. “To restore accountability to the American public, this order commences a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy,” the executive order stated. “By eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity, my administration will empower American families, workers, taxpayers, and our system of government itself.”
Effects on visitor experience
President Trump’s purge of federal employees is bringing chaos to national parks. It is not only upending the lives of National Park Service workers but also creating a domino effect that will harm visitors’ experience.
According to the Washington Post, the problems are “expected to escalate during the summer season, when more than 100 million Americans and international tourists typically visit the 63 national parks in the United States.”
Many speculations have been spread around social media about the effect these layoffs will have on NPS. The fired workers perform trail maintenance, staff visitor centers, clean bathrooms, operate campgrounds, perform search and rescue and hundreds of more vital tasks that keep our public lands safe and functioning.
Parks and Rangers impacted
Without employees staffed at entrance stations the result may be long lines into the parks. The trails will deteriorate if there is no one maintaining them. Operating hours could be cut back as well.
Yosemite National Park already delayed opening their campgrounds in the most popular summer months due to staffing uncertainties.
During the Firefall at Yosemite, NPS rangers deployed a massive American flag upside down on El Capitan to protest the employee cuts. According to the United States Flag Code, an upside-down flag is traditionally a sign of “dire distress.”
Ex-park ranger Alex Wild posted about his experience with the sudden layoffs in a viral Instagram post. “Today I lost my dream job as a permanent park ranger in the NPS,” he wrote, saying he was “still in shock” and “completely devastated.”
In the Instagram post, Wild shared his termination email, writing that it was “the biggest slap in the face imaginable.”
“I got a termination email stating: “The Department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the Department’s current needs, and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment to the position of Park Ranger,” posted Wild.
According to Wild, he believed that this decision had nothing to do with performance and that the decision came from DOGE and the new federal administration.
“I’m still in shock and completely devastated. I have dedicated my life to being a public servant, teacher, and advocate for places that we ALL cherish. I have saved lives and put my own life at risk to serve my community,” wrote Wild.
Wild was the only EMT at his park and is unsure how the parks will continue to operate as he was the first responder in emergencies. “My heart is broken for all of the other people who lost their jobs and their housing. My heart is broken for the parks and landscapes that will be damaged. And my heart is broken for my country.”
The Trump administration has given NPS permission to fill temporary seasonal positions that had been paused due to the federal hiring freeze. This would be good news if parks had more time. Due to last minute permissions, parks might have difficulty getting seasonal workers onboarded in time for peak season.
How to take action
The National Park Conservation Association (NPCA) believes things will get worse for the parks if people don’t act now. NPCA urges those who want to take action to message congress at npca.org/jobcuts and tell them to support public lands. Support Public Land Conservation Associations and leave no trace when visiting the parks this season.
