UPDATE | Interior Closing Albright, Mather Training Centers For National Park Service

Editor's note: This updates with Interior Department confirmation that the training programs will no longer be offered at the two centers.

Interior Department officials confirmed to the National Parks Traveler that the Horace M. Albright and Stephen T. Mather training centers for National Park Service employees no longer will offer the training.

The two centers, one at Grand Canyon National Park and the other at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, are being consolidated, the department said in an email Friday evening.

"This consolidation reflects an internal shift in how the NPS manages training and workforce development. It is not a reflection of the value of the training programs themselves, which remain a critical component of our agency’s mission to support and develop the NPS workforce," said Alyse Sharpe, a senior public affairs specialist at Interior.

However, she could not say how the training would be provided going forward.

Bill Wade, a former instructor at the Albright Center and later superintendent of the Mather Center, had no idea what Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has in mind for the training programs.

"Training is one of those functions that evidently has been 'consolidated' at the DOI level, and how it will operate hasn’t been revealed," Wade, the executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, told the Traveler in an email. "Last I heard, the Albright facilities could be turned over to Grand Canyon NP. I don’t know what will happen to the Mather TC."

Both centers have been operated by the Park Service's Learning & Development office within the Directorate of Workforce Relevancy and Inclusion based in Washington. Among the goals of the centers was to provide new rangers with "a basic knowledge and understanding of National Park
Service objectives, philosophy, policies, organization, administration, legislation, and operating programs," noted a brochure about the Albright Center.

The Albright Center dates to 1963, when it "hosted 'Ranger Operations.' From that early curriculum to today's Fundamentals courses, the Albright Training Center has welcomed as many as 700 new employees annually allowing them to immerse in Grand Canyon operations while testing best practices shared in the classrooms," notes a page on Grand Canyon's website.

The Mather Center appeared the following year in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Wade said the loss of the two centers would have far-reaching implications.

"For over half a century, both Albright Training Center and Mather Training Center have provided hundreds of training and educational opportunities for NPS employees of all disciplines. Beyond the training courses themselves, the opportunities for employees to meet each other and network has resulted in valuable benefits back on the job," he said. "Having been on the staffs of both centers, I can attest to the significant loss to the NPS and its employees if these centers are closed. This is yet another adverse step in the overall deterioration in developmental opportunities for NPS employees."

Albright served as the Park Service’s primary training center for new employee orientation as well as advance training in ranger activities, natural resource management, and other fields. Mather served a similar role for cultural resources and interpretation. Both were staffed with subject matter experts with considerable field experience. 

While delivery of training has shifted to a lot of online training, these are considered the centers of excellence where curriculums are developed and kept up to date. As both centers are intentionally located within national park units, trainees on site also benefit from immersion in national park environments and the opportunity for case studies and guest instruction from experienced NPS staff located right there.

Cuts in travel by Park Service employees ordered by the Trump administration possibly played a role in the decision to close the centers. Too, Park Service employees displaced from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon by the Dragon Bravo Fire were being housed temporarily in the Albright Center.