National Park Service Workforce Declines By Nearly 25 Percent Under Trump

Nearly a quarter of the National Park Service's workforce has left since President Donald Trump took office in January, and seasonal staff hiring is far below where it was projected to be, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

“This new data confirms what NPCA has been warning the administration and Congress about," Theresa Pierno, NPCA's president and CEO, said Thursday. "National parks cannot properly function at the staffing levels this administration has reduced them to. And it’s only getting worse. Since the Trump administration took office, the Park Service has lost 24 percent of its permanent staff—that’s nearly a quarter of the workforce gone, along with decades of irreplaceable knowledge and expertise. The remaining staff are overwhelmed and doing heroic work just to keep parks open, safe and protected. But many are hanging by a thread."

NPCA based its numbers on internal Interior Department data it obtained. That data also show that only about 4,500 of the 8,000 seasonal staff pledged by the administration have been hired, the advocacy group said.

Reduced staffing levels at some parks—Assateague, Yosemite, Big Bend and Black Canyon of the Gunnison— are forcing closures, cutting programming, and even impacting emergency response.

"Without these essential workers, visitor centers and campgrounds will close, trails will go unmaintained, rescue response times will slow, and cultural sites will fall into disrepair," said Pierno. "All of this as millions of visitors pour into parks this summer. Instead of fixing the problem, the administration is doubling down, planning even more staffing cuts. You can’t protect our national treasures by gutting the people who care for them."

According to NPCA's information:

• At Assateague Island National Seashore, all 13 lifeguard positions are vacant, including the chief lifeguard and six guards each on the Maryland and Virginia sides. A beach that should be protected all summer long currently has zero lifeguards.
• The National Parks of Boston, which are hosting thousands of visitors for America 250 throughout the year, have lost their superintendent, deputy superintendent, director of science and stewardship partnerships, supervisory interpretive park ranger, museum curator and their lone administrative assistant. These three park units combined have over 50 vacancies for full-time employees.
• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is unable to fill 24 of the park’s 74 positions — a 1/3 reduction in staffing. All custodial staff had been terminated, so other, higher graded maintenance employees were being directed away from their regular duties to perform custodial functions.
• An estimated 60 staffers from the National Park Service’s regional offices in Alaska have departed under the Trump administration via firings, layoffs retirements and buyouts.
• Big Bend National Park is down to almost half of their fully staffed numbers. There will be greatly reduced interpretive programming this summer because they’ve lost several interpretive staff, including the chief of interpretation.
• As of Thursday, there are currently only 49 open positions listed nationally for the National Park Service on the government’s official site, USAjobs.gov.

The decline in the permanent workforce could increase, too, as the administration is hoping to institute a reduction-in-force, aka firing, of more full-time personnel.