Further, the latest government shutdown has disproportionately devastated the National Park Service. Since taking over in January, the agency has suffered an unprecedented and drastic loss of staff and resources. With 9,296 out of 14,500 employees expected to be furloughed, the park system is struggling to maintain its operations and protect the natural environments it oversees. As the crisis drags on, national parks and the communities that surround them are paying the price.
Even worse, in just the last few months, the National Park Service has lost over 25% of its permanent senior staff. This loss deepens the threats these storied landscapes have long been bearing. Angela Gonzales, Senior Associate for NPCA, reinforced this troubling reality. Each day that goes by without a resolution is costing our park system upwards of $1 million in lost fee revenue. This shutdown puts national park operations in jeopardy and impacts the gateway communities that help fuel our economy. Gateway communities that rely on tourism would see potential daily losses of up to $80 million in visitor spending.
Though the government is closed, national parks such as Yosemite National Park are still technically open. The limitations visitors are experiencing are real. No one is there to collect park entrance fees, and hikers currently have to self-issue backcountry permits. These measures leave essential services unstaffed, raising concerns about visitor safety and park maintenance.
Joshua Tree National Park suffered some of the worst effects from past shutdowns, with reports of trees being felled. Kenji Haroutunian, at the time the executive director of Friends Of Joshua Tree, underscored the unpredictable nature of every closure. He stated that there seemed to be no clarity about resources, protections, and infrastructure required to protect and serve the public in our only national park.
Beyond Yosemite, many other national parks have experienced similar crises. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks were forced to close during a previous shutdown. The parks were dealing with a disgusting crisis of human poop and trash. Mount Rainier National Park still runs its gift shops and restaurants by using private companies as fronts. Sadly, the same can’t be said for many entrance gates and ranger stations, which are manned by National Park Service employees.
Staffing has gone down to the point that maintenance is being crippled. Therefore, magnificent parks, even those as important as Grand Canyon, Death Valley and Sequoia will be left without essential maintenance during the current, extended federal shutdown. James Jones, a veteran maintenance worker at North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway National Park, expressed concern about the park’s recovery from Hurricane Helene last year amidst these staffing cuts. He remarked, “They’ve left the park open, which is new – it’s the first time they’ve actually left entire areas of the parkway open.”
The effects of the shutdown go far beyond the logistics of operations. Consider the emotional cost to furloughed employees. Angela Gonzales emphasized the uncertainty many workers face: “With the government shut down, thousands of park employees are now furloughed, unsure when they’ll see their next paycheck. To make matters worse, the administration is threatening additional staff cuts. More than one-third of employees are worried they may not have a job to come back to in-person.
As visitors express their hopes for enjoyable experiences in these parks, like Kim Nachazel who said, “I had hope and optimism that this park wouldn’t really be affected,” the reality remains that services are limited and financial implications are severe. The NPCA is particularly concerned about the threats facing our national parks. These threats threaten the natural resources that these national park units were established to protect.
Yet this current situation is symptomatic of a larger problem with the way our federal government funds and allocates resources to key public services. As the shutdown continues with no end in sight, state park officials and local communities are beginning to watch closely how this will play out, particularly with regard to impacts on these treasured landscapes and their associated economies.