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Mass layoffs across the federal government along with a freeze on new hires are expected to have devastating effects on America's national parks and public lands in the coming weeks and months. The purge, which was ordered by billionaire Elon Musk, approved by President Donald Trump, and carried out by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, is already being felt across the National Park Service.
A new reservation system to prevent overcrowding at Yosemite is already delayed. Seasonal hires at Yellowstone and Grand Teton make up about half of the summer staff at the parks, and those positions are uncertain. While anonymous sources claimed to the Washington Post that the Park Service was hiring 5,000 seasonal employees, an email viewed by Politico on Friday said only 300 positions had been granted exemptions.
The purge will hit an agency that was already running lean—national park operations staff had fallen by 20 percent since 2010, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
“I’m so mad right now,” one anonymous employee told E&E News. The employee pointed out that without maintenance staff, basic services from bathrooms to trail maintenance would be in disarray. “That doesn’t happen over a week or two of shutdown, but if you did that for a year? Nobody to pump the toilets in a month?”
Firefighter hiring freeze could be deadly
The timing of the hiring freeze and firings is especially dangerous for wildland firefighters at the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. NBC News reports that hiring firefighters is a lengthy process because of the background checks that are required, so by delaying those hires now, America's firefighting force will be diminished as the 2025 fire season begins next month.
“I have firefighters who I should be bringing on, and I’m not able to because our HR practices have stopped until the hiring freeze is lifted, or they’re given permission to continue,” said Forest Service firefighting captain Ben McLane, who serves in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington. “It’s as simple as that.”
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I don't think they are even a little bit concerned about the unintended consequences of their actions. I think their intention is to cut people, to cut dollars, and they don't care what that means to how you operate a park. They don't care yet what it means to local communities, state governments, the economies of places that surround Yellowstone. They don't care because they've not had to think about it.”
