Trump job cuts could throw national parks and forests into ‘staffing chaos’

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement that the Trump administration will “protect America’s abundant natural resources while streamlining federal agencies to better serve the American people.” 

The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment.

At Devils Postpile National Monument, in eastern California, Alex Wild said he was often the first to arrive when a hiker or camper was experiencing a health emergency. Until last week, he was the park’s only certified EMT ranger on staff who could perform CPR. He now worries that people will have to wait hours for local first responders to arrive when there’s in a life-threatening situation.

“It could mean life or death for someone who’s having an emergency,” he said.

Democratic lawmakers denounced federal job cuts, calling buyout offers from earlier in February “damaging and short-sighted” in a letter signed by Democratic 20 senators. 

The letter also warned that mass cuts could create “staffing chaos” in the national parks. 

“Not only does this threaten the full suite of visitor services, but could close entire parks altogether,” the senators wrote.

Kristen Brengel, with the National Parks Conservation Agency, said the terminations reflect a “bad business decision” by the Trump administration. Parks draw millions of visitors each year; in 2023, they supported an estimated 415,000 jobs and $55.6 billion in total economic activity, according to the senators’ letter. They are economically crucial to gateway communities and appeal to a large, bipartisan base that spans all ages and demographics. 

“Americans have said this time and time again — we want to have places that are not commercialized,” she said. 

At Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska, sled dogs are one of the biggest attractions for tourists every year. People come from all over the world to meet the canine rangers, learn about the work they do in the park and watch demonstrations. 

Mitch Flaherty was part of a small kennel staff that cared for the 31 dogs. His experience training, feeding and running the canines made him an essential employee during the Covid pandemic, when Denali closed.

It’s optimal to have three to five people working with the four-legged rangers, who participate in three demonstrations a day during the high season, he said. The kennel team is now down one person after Flaherty was fired last week, which could impact how tourists interact with the sled dogs.

“If we don’t have enough staff, we don’t run the dogs during demos,” he said. “The visitors are always bummed if they aren’t able to see the dogs actually working and pulling the cart. It’s definitely the main attraction.”

Recently, staffing cuts at the Forest Service led to the closure of a popular trailhead and snow park near Seattle called the Franklin Falls trailhead, which receives more than 1,000 visitors on busy days.  

“It’s a super popular trailhead all year round,” said Jon Hoekstra, the executive director of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, a nonprofit conservation organization based in Seattle. “There aren’t the front-line Forest Service staff who normally would be there for safety — for sanitation, for cleaning up, for helping people in a pinch. Those folks aren’t there now and they’re not going to be there.”  

Hoekstra said the Forest Service was also delinquent on invoices his nonprofit had submitted for conservation work funded by the Great American Outdoors Act, which included habitat restoration and improvements to the trailhead. 

“Putting a freeze on those payments is unprecedented in my 10 years” with the trust, Hoekstra said. “It’s very unusual. Most federal contracts are reimbursement-based. We enter in to do work and there’s a budget and as expenses are incurred, we submit invoices and they’re paid.”

Sydney Hansen, a 24-year-old physical science technician, said she emerged from Jewel Cave in South Dakota, the nation’s second longest cave, on Friday afternoon to a message that she needed to see the superintendent immediately. 

Hansen stripped off her knee pads, helmet, elbow pads, cave pack and muddy boots — after finishing her qualifications to lead cave tours at the national monument — and began to cry. 

“They did us dirty, and I don’t appreciate it at all,” Hansen said this week. “I am proud of all the work I did and I was proud to work for the park service and I know this isn’t necessarily the park’s service’s fault. I’m not happy or entirely proud of our government.”

The termination letter said she’d “failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment” and that her expertise didn’t fit the service’s needs. 

Hansen’s performance reviews, obtained by NBC News, suggested otherwise. Hansen “exceeds expectations,” according to the review, which described her as a quick learner who was “careful and accurate in all her work” and always prepared for tasks above the ground and below. 

Hansen offered cave tours to visitors, helped lead exploration in the more than 220-mile network of caverns and helped with biology, cartography and wildlife projects. The cave won’t be as safe without her and visitors likely won’t have as many options to tour, Hansen said.