NPCA And Coalition Emphasize Supporting NPS Staff In Letter Responding To Request for Comments On NPS Visitor Services

In a letter written in response to the National Park Service's request for comments on visitor services, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks emphasized the need to support and bolster NPS staff.

“Between 2010 and 2023, the Park Service had a 20% decrease in full time staff,” states the letter. “During that same thirteen-year period, park visitation grew 16%. And these new cuts to park staffing come as park visitation continues to surge and Americans desire access to nature and our shared history have only grown as we approach the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.”

It goes on to point out how staffing shortages have diminished the experience for park visitors, who “continue to expect a once-in-a-lifetime experience” despite the strain on NPS staff.

The two groups insist that instead of focusing too heavily on the experience of visitors, NPS should focus on supporting the staff that is attempting to do impossible work as visitation at many parks increases.

“Overemphasizing the needs of the park visitor now could very well undermine the ability of NPS to plan for an unimpaired visitor experience for generations to come,” says the letter. “Through chronic underfunding, frontloading of staff to visitor services, and decimation of the natural and cultural resource divisions that protect our nations most valued treasures, NPS is committing to a path that is at odds with their legal obligation and threatens their ability to plan for future generations.”

The letter speaks of several parks that have seen dramatic increases in visitation, which has made it difficult for NPS staff to keep up. It mentions, for example, the Trail Ridge Road at Rocky Mountain National Park, where a heavy concentration of visitors “has led to people spreading out beyond existing trails and has increased concerns about wildlife disruption, with elk and moose being pushed from natural habitat corridors.”

It also mentions Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, where there have been high-profile cases of vandalism of cultural sites, particularly defacement of Indigenous rock imagery.

“When visitors are faced with closed visitor centers, trashed bathrooms, and no ranger tours, the visitor experience of these places is in obvious decline.”

“Amidst inadequate budgets for park planning NPS must increase their ability to manage visitor use across the system in order to meet one of the greatest challenges facing NPS in its second century,” explains the letter.

Visitor use management may include managed access systems, which can include reservations, timed-entry, or permits. The letter argues that “[t]hese systems don’t mean fewer people can enter parks; they just mean a better visitor experience for everyone.”

Managed access systems have been put in place at Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, and Acadia National Parks, among others.

“The staff are the beating heart of the NPS. Without bolstering the ranks of the park service employees, the visitor experience will be severely degraded…Our greatest national treasures deserve their stewards; and the public deserves to experience those treasures fully staffed.”