The Lorax Would Hate It Here

By: Deanna Hall, Staff Writer

Did you know that there are sixty-three official National Parks in the United States? ^[1] These parks are a part of a larger 433-unit system that the National Park Service manages that covers more than 85 million acres in all fifty states, D.C., and U.S. territories. ^[2] The National Park Service (NPS) was created by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 as a federal bureau within the Department of the Interior with the responsibilities of “maintaining national parks and monuments that were then managed by the department.” ^[3] There are typically 20,000 workers employed by the National Park Service throughout the year. ^[4] These workers are made up of permanent, temporary, and seasonal workers who help keep the parks beautiful, protect resources, conduct research, and help the 325 million people who visited national parks in 2023. ^[5] The seasonal workers are typically hired during warmer months when park traffic increases.

On February 14th, 2025, President Donald Trump in collaboration with billionaire Elon Musk fired 1,000 NPS workers as a part of their plan to downsize the federal workforce. ^[6] Many of the fired workers were on a probationary period, however not all of the employees were new at the parks—workers typically switch parks throughout their careers and when they do so they have to undergo a new probationary period. ^[7] Therefore, President Trump and Musk’s plan made these workers vulnerable to the firings as well. The firings coincided with federal hiring freezes that did not allow parks to hire seasonal workers as some are nearing their busy seasons. ^[8] There has since been an approval to hire a total of 7,700 seasonal employees for the year (keep in mind that some parks’ busy seasons begin as early as March), but since the layoffs there are not enough workers left to train these temporary ones. ^[9] For example, Grand Teton National Park lost 16 of its 17 supervisory roles, leaving one person to train seasonal staff at a park that has thousands of visitors. ^[10] Even before the layoffs parks have been understaffed, with staffing levels down 20% since 2010, but park traffic has increased by 16% within the same time. ^[11] These layoffs make it worse.

With fewer workers parks will have fewer services, parks and trails will be dirtier, and visitors will not enjoy their experiences as much. ^[12] Visitor center hours are being reduced which leads to less guided tours and less educational programs. ^[13] Less hours harms the entire system because even larger parks will no longer be able to have the support staff, they need to collect fees and run the aforementioned programs. An example of this is Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado which has stated that due to staffing issues they now must reduce their hours and close two days a week. ^[14] Another example is Saguaro National Park in Arizona which posted on February 20^th that the visitors center is closed “until further notice.” ^[15]

Less workers in the parks means more trash, neglected trails, and deteriorating facilities within the parks because maintenance crews will be stretched too thin. This will cause risks to wildlife and natural resources to increase. There will be fewer rangers around to enforce regulations—putting visitors in danger and weakening their ability to monitor the ecosystems that wildlife in the parks depend on. A ranger at Buffalo National River in Arkansas named Stacey Ramsey who helped assist in twenty search and rescues over a five-year period was one of the many that were laid off by Trump. ^[16] She states that she worked as “a river ranger, upper district fee collector, interpreter and even helped with concessions and maintenance during her time at the park.” ^[17] She wore many hats in an effort to protect the park system.

Since beginning to write this article a federal judge, U.S. District Judge William Alsup, declared that the firing of the NPS workers violated federal law and ordered that they be rehired. [18] Rangers, custodians, and guides were among those reinstated and allowed to work, while other staff including education and visual information specialists, and archives staff were reinstated and then placed on administrative leave. [19] The NPS’s reinstatement decisions are being based on whether the position is considered critical to park operations, national security, or public safety. [20] The workers that were placed on administrative leave are at risk of relosing their jobs if their job is deemed disposable due to less funds making a reduction in force very possible. [21]

To fill the gaps from less federal funding, parks would have to begin to start charging more than the average $25 per car for entry (not every park charges, but the ones that do the cost is 25-35) to be able to fund all the workers that are needed. Increasing the charge will make parks less accessible and therefore decrease the traffic making the extra charge unnecessary – leading to an endless cycle.

^[1] https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/national-park-system.htm

^[2] Id.

^[3] Id.

^[4] https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/02/25/national-park-service-layoffs-what-to-know/80234977007/

^[5] Id.

^[6] Id.

^[7] Id.

^[8] https://time.com/7258430/national-parks-service-workers-fired-trump-doge-concerns/

^[9] https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/02/26/national-parks-layoffs-closures/

^[10] https://time.com/7258430/national-parks-service-workers-fired-trump-doge-concerns/

^[11] https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/02/26/national-parks-layoffs-closures/

^[12] https://time.com/7258430/national-parks-service-workers-fired-trump-doge-concerns/