An axed custodian warns that the condition of the parks is “not going to be pretty.”
National Park rangers throughout the US are warning of impending danger to visitors, wildlife and natural resources as job cuts and hiring freezes slash staffing at some of the country’s most beloved destinations.
As part of sweeping job reductions across the federal workforce, the Donald Trump administration abruptly fired about 1,000 workers across the National Park Service last Friday, many of whom were in probationary periods for their roles. Despite a presidential order to exempt any positions related to public safety, NPS employees say essential safety functions are being affected. That’s partly because of the parks’ already limited staffing levels, which even before the Trump cuts often required workers to take on responsibilities outside their job descriptions.
“On paper, I do school programs and run the visitor center,” says Alex Wild, who was fired on Feb. 14 from his role as an interpretive park ranger at Devils Postpile National Monument, about 50 miles south of Yosemite National Park in California. “But I am also the only EMT, and I run the entire search and rescue and medical services program in the park.”
When the park is open during summer and fall, Wild says he gets calls about two or three times a week, and mostly on weekends, to respond to visitor emergencies, whether it’s a twisted ankle or a flare-up of a heart condition. Now Devils Postpile, which receives about 135,000 annual visitors, is down to only three permanent employees, none of whom have medical training, Wild says. “I have to believe that something is going to change between now and opening day, and if it doesn’t, I don’t know how we can possibly open,” he says.
Employees say public safety is already at risk at Joshua Tree National Park, where the busy season started more or less immediately after Trump’s job cuts. Six entrance-station staff were fired last week. With big holiday crowds flocking to the desert park over Presidents Day weekend, rangers normally responsible for preventative search and rescue were reassigned to collecting visitor fees, according to a park employee who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. “Preventative search and rescue is a big part of our park operation, trying to make sure people who visit the park are safe and don’t get lost and have the water and stuff that they need to go out into the park,” the employee says. “So all our park visitors are less safe because we don’t have those people working in those other capacities.”
At Yosemite, one of the country’s most attended national parks with more than 3.5 million annual visitors, 11 people were fired, including the only locksmith for a park that’s sometimes compared to a small city. Already Yosemite has announced it will delay summer reservations at some of its most popular campgrounds because of the staffing crisis. Funding for its search and rescue operation, which is run by volunteers who are paid per mission, is frozen. Seasonal workers are also in limbo, putting other critical functions such as park sanitation, endangered species protection and vegetation management on hold. “Our job is to get rid of invasive plant species that have a huge fire risk when left alone,” says Andrea Cherney, whose job offer to work as a biological science technician in Yosemite for a fourth season was rescinded.
The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday night that the Trump administration had reversed a previously announced seasonal hiring freeze following public outcry over the impact on parks. But Cherney says she’s heard nothing about her position in Yosemite. She and a group of co-workers are planning to rally in protest of the job cuts on Saturday, their second protest since last week.
Terminated employees received letters from Lena McDowall, the Park Service’s deputy director for management and administration, claiming they had “failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment,” which several workers say is simply untrue. Aleksander Chmura, who was terminated from his job as a custodian at Yosemite, shared past evaluations that showed he’d consistently exceeded employee expectations. “I went above and beyond expectations,” he says. He plans to file a class-action lawsuit with other park employees who say their firings were illegal.
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents hundreds of NPS employees, has also said it plans to sue the Trump administration over the firings, which it’s called “purely without cause.” The National Park Service didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Many park workers make major sacrifices for their jobs, putting in years of seasonal employment to get a shot at permanent roles. Even for full-timers, low pay and shoddy accommodations are common, but the jobs tend to attract true believers. Since being fired, “I’ve never cried more in my entire life,” Chmura says. He predicts that park conditions will deteriorate rapidly, noting that during a 2019 government shutdown, trash and feces piled up, illegal off-roading was rampant, and natural wonders were defaced. “That’s what’s going to happen,” he says. “It’s not going to be pretty.”
Written by: Laura Bliss @Bloomberg
The post “Trump Job Cuts Threaten Safety at National Parks, Workers Say” first appeared on Bloomberg