Outdoor lovers and communities located near national parks and recreation areas are beginning to sound the alarm over the staffing cuts at the National Park Service.
Protesters gathered at a rally against the Trump administration during "Not My President's Day" ... [+]
Last week’s firing of roughly 1,000 probationary employees in the National Park Service and 3,400 in the U.S. Forest Service—primarily new hires who had worked at the agency less than one year—is causing uncertainty for travelers and outdoors enthusiasts ahead of the 2025 summer season.
The numbers of laid-off employees represent approximately 5% of the total National Park Service workforce and 10% at the U.S. Forest Service.
National parks, recreation areas, memorials and other sites attracted 325.5 million visitors in 2023, according to the most recent statistics from the National Park Service, which does not include the 159 million annual visitors to national forests.
The National Parks Conservation Association, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, called the staffing cuts “reckless,” saying they will “leave parks understaffed, facing tough decisions about operating hours, public safety and resource protection.”
On the heels of the firings, Yosemite National Park, the sixth most popular park in the system with nearly 4 million annual visitors, has delayed opening summer reservations for five popular campsites, according to ABC News and other outlets.
“We’re hearing uncertainty from travelers who want to know if facilities and services will be available in 2025. That uncertainty isn’t good for anyone,” Jen Young, co-founder of Outdoorsy, the largest RV rental marketplace, told Forbes.
Across the country, protests have begun in local communities that rely on national park visitors’ spending to power their economies. On Monday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered for a protest outside Rocky Mountain National Park after the recent firings and layoffs of several park rangers, the ABC News affiliate in Denver reported. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside city hall in Flagstaff, Arizona, known as the gateway to the Grand Canyon National Park, to protest the layoffs. At a protest in Tallahassee, Florida, over the federal layoffs at various agencies, a former state park ranger held a sign that said, “Keep your paws off my national parks," reported USA Today. Even before the layoffs were effected, there were protests at Yosemite and Joshua Tree national parks in California.
$639.5 billion. That was the economic output of the outdoor recreation industry in 2023, surpassing industries such as farming, mining, and utilities, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Of that figure, national parks generated $55.6 billion to the U.S. economy, supporting 415,000 direct and ancillary jobs, according to National Park Service data.
“Nearly 30% of each season's RV and campervan rentals on Outdoorsy.com are booked for travel to America’s most popular parks,” Young said. “The recent layoffs across both the outdoor industry and the National Park Service send a troubling message that travelers, businesses, and the entire industry are likely to feel.”
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston abruptly closed Tuesday afternoon after the "sudden dismissal" of workers due to an executive order by President Donald Trump, the JFK Library Foundation said. The dismissed staff “are responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the library,” Joseph Patrick Kennedy III, a former Massachusetts congressman and grandnephew of President Kennedy, told CBS News, adding “there’s not a whole lot of thought into what are the consequences of these actions.” The JFK Library reopened Wednesday.
Current Climate: DOGE Cuts Are Undermining Wildfire Readiness (Forbes)