NATIONAL NEWS – National parks laid off 1,000 employees weeks before start of busy season
National parks throughout the nation are suffering from the layoffs. This season has been incredibly uncertain for national park staff because of the intense federal layoffs that have been imposed on the parks and their employees. National Park employees provide for millions of visitors to the parks every year including things like reservations, park cleanup, and education. The National Park Service (NPS) laid off around 1,000 employees on February 14th which was only a few weeks before the start of the busy season for many of the country’s national parks. The layoffs targeted probationary workers and were only one of the effects that came from Trump and Elon Musk’s plans to significantly downsize the federal workforce. Multiple NPS officials have testified that the agency was already understaffed and the number of full-time employees dropped by 15% between 2011 and 2022. This forced some facilities to significantly limit their hours. News later came saying that the Trump administration gave the NPS permission to fill temporary seasonal positions that had initially been paused due to the federal hiring freeze. The agency is now allowed to fill a total of 7,700 positions higher than the three-year average of 6,350.
