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As the Trump administration continues to cut federal workers, the National Park Service reported that nearly 10% of its staff have lost drastic cuts, but that 2024 set record highs for park visits.
Last year, nearly 332 million people hiked, camped or simply took a breath of fresh air in a national park in the United States. This is 6 million visits and 1 million visits than the previous record set in 2016 than a year ago.
The news comes as park supervisors scramble this summer to understand how to keep the park clean and visitors safe, as hundreds of permanent workers have been lost. Approximately 1,000 Probation National Park Service employees – people who worked for the first two years were generally fired on February 14th, and tens of thousands of other federal employees on probation were fired.
At the other end of the spectrum, more than 700 Park Service workers have participated in the Trump administration’s acquisition program. Such programs generally attract older employees who are close to retirement.
“We’ve slapped face to face with hundreds of millions of people who have explored our parks last year and wanted to come back,” said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit National Park Conservation Association. “Americans love national parks. There is no official support for these cuts.”
The National Park Service is undoubtedly the most beloved branch of a large and vast federal bureaucrat. Even Americans who might get a bit lost in the alphabet soup from other agencies will never forget that over 400 people stand in the Yosemite Valley, trembling in a quiet wonder at the towering waterfalls.
The Trump administration announced its first agency cuts in January — removing the status of thousands of seasonal workers who collect entrance fees, clean up and assist in search and rescue operations — sparked a swift, ferocious backlash.
The Trump administration has vowed to restore seasonal jobs following a coordinated social media campaign from Parks employees and outdoor enthusiasts, and hire hundreds more temporary workers this year.
But that was a notable exception to the administration’s comprehensive strategy of seemingly indiscriminate reductions.
In all, the National Park Service has lost around 1,700 full-time employees from just under 20,000 staff per year.
The loss comes almost 15 years without a significant increase in the operating budget for Park Services, Brengel said. “That means a lot of employees have already done multiple jobs and have been doing that for years,” she said.
California has nine national parks, including any other states, including well-known sites such as Yosemite, Joshua Tree and Death Valley. Their rising cliffs and star-studded night sky lays in the background of millions of family holidays each year. According to the Park Service website, there were over 4 million visits to Yosemite last year, about 3 million to Joshua Tree and about 1.4 million to Death Valley.
News of last year’s record visits were posted on the agency’s website, but there was no regular celebration fanfare. Instead, it is a more careful whisper, indicating the general mood of federal workers these days.
“You’ve heard so many rumors about being fired for doing small things that seem to be against the Trump administration’s agenda, especially here in DC,” Brengel said. “Everyone is scary.”
National Park Service officials did not respond to requests for comment.
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