Exemptions to President Trump's hiring freeze for federal employees will allow the National Park Service to address seasonal and short-term positions, but uncertainty remains over the size of the agency's permanent workforce and whether it will be sufficient to manage the more than 400 units of the National Park System, a National Parks Conservation Association official said Wednesday.

Polling in seven Western states shows a strong majority of voters value clean air and water and outdoor recreation above energy development on public lands. And while the results showed eight in 10 voters want to retain, not decommission, national monuments, Utah officials were working to ask the Trump administration to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument designation and shrink the size of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

The National Park Service on Tuesday received approval to hire seasonal workers for the coming year, though the status of term positions remained up in the air.

Crater Lake National Park would establish more than a dozen new hiking trails and examine building a trail around the Oregon park’s namesake lake under a Trail Management Plan that will serve as a blueprint for the next 25 years.