The Department of Government Efficiency's cuts to the National Park Service come at a time when visits to national parks are at an all-time high, the NPS said last week.
The Trump administration laid off 1,000 probationary NPS employees last month as part of its initiative of downsizing the federal workforce to slash federal spending.
The cuts preceded the NPS' announcement last week that it set a record 331.9 million recreational visits to the nation's 428 national parks and historic sites in 2024, shattering the number of visits in 2023 (325.5 million) and eclipsing the previous record of 330.97 million visits set in 2016.
In addition to the 9% cut in the NPS workforce, the Trump administration also canceled 34 Park Service building leases that house visitor centers, museums, and law enforcement offices, said the National Parks Conservation Association, an independent advocacy group of the NPS.
"The National Park Service just reported the highest visitation in its history, as the administration conducts massive firings and threatens to close visitor centers and public safety facilities. It's a slap in the face to the hundreds of millions of people who explored our parks last year and want to keep going back. Americans love their national parks; these cuts do not have public support," NPCA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Kristen Brengel said in a statement last week.
"As peak travel season arrives, park visitors will have to contend with closed visitor centers and campgrounds, canceled ranger programs, and less search and rescue staff. If building leases are cancelled, it will make these problems worse," she added.
The NPCA began an online petition asking Congress to "roll back these devastating job cuts."
After the first wave of cuts last month, the NPS announced its intention to hire 7,700 seasonal positions in 2025, up from the three-year average of 6,350. The Park Service has roughly 20,000 employees.
However, the executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers said those hires usually "would be well along the way." Now, onboarding new hires comes at a busy time.
"What with the number of people [onboarding] — paperwork, background checks, training, finding places to live — there's going to be delays getting those people on board," Bill Wade, a former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, told Axios.