Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities


** Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon rangers vote to unionize
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Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Yosemite Park Rangers below Ranger Club sign, 2019; Source: Yosemite NPS Facebook ([link removed])

Employees at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks have voted to unionize. Over 97 percent of ballots ([link removed]) cast in the elections, which ran from July 22 to August 19, were in favor of unionizing with the National Federation of Federal Employees. The move will help employees at both parks negotiate with the federal government on workplace conditions.

The elections come largely as a response to President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the ranks ([link removed]) of federal workers. Yosemite is operating with approximately 40 fewer permanent staffers ([link removed]) than it did last summer, while seasonal hiring has also lagged behind expectations. As a result, current employees are stretched thin—grappling with a 40 percent spike ([link removed]) in search and rescue operations between January and July, and facing a 48 percent drop ([link removed]) in park law enforcement staffing since 2010.

“We just want to be protected from this administration,” a Yosemite worker who helped organize votes told Bloomberg ([link removed]) .

One-fifth of national parks struggling due to staffing cuts

Amid deep cuts, more than 90 parks ([link removed]) have reported problems like lost revenue and cuts to emergency services. At least one-fifth of the country’s 433 parks have been significantly strained and understaffed because of steep cuts mandated by the Trump administration, according to internal government data obtained by The New York Times ([link removed]) . One expert called this “a dangerous path.”

Routine tasks like cleaning and stocking the bathrooms have gone undone. Fewer rangers have given tours and lectures. Visitor centers have reduced hours. And parks have lost millions of dollars because they are unable to staff entrances and collect visitor fees, according to the Times ([link removed]) .


** Quick hits
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Former supervisor of most-visited national forest shares concerns about ‘deliberate dismantling’ of public lands

Vail Daily ([link removed])

WA to conserve 77,000 acres of older forests on state lands

Washington State Standard ([link removed])

109th anniversary of NPS comes amid proposed cuts, uncertainty about the future of public lands

Rocky Mountain Community Radio ([link removed])

USFS chief outlines vision for more logging, mining, and grazing in national forests

Montana Free Press ([link removed]) | Whitefish Pilot ([link removed])

Neguse bill would pause further cuts to federal staff

Telluride Daily Planet ([link removed])

National Guard troops help NPS staff with sanitation, landscaping in DC

Washington Post ([link removed])

BLM visitors chafe at Burgum request to review ‘negative’ signs

E&E News ([link removed])

Environmental laws waived to build border wall in Texas wildlife refuge

Inside Climate News ([link removed])


** Quote of the day
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” It just feels like we’re being taken advantage of... We are buffering the public because we care. But how long is that going to last? Because it’s not fair that we keep getting the hit to make it seem like everything’s OK.”

—A longtime Yosemite employee granted anonymity by E&E News ([link removed])


** Picture This
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@USFWS ([link removed])
Young great blue herons start learning to fly at about 8 weeks old and at just 10 weeks old they're out on their own and independent. Young birds aren't as experienced and may move slower so be sure to give wildlife plenty of space as you drive by.

📷 Courtney Celley/USFWS

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