National Park Week kicks off amid mass layoffs

The National Park Service kicked off National Park Week in earnest last weekend, but few park staff are in a celebratory mood.

Courts determined that the Trump administration could proceed with its mass firing of some 1,000 NPS staff. Staffers who were allowed to return to work on a temporary injunction were immediately terminated again.

US Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made no mention of the employee purge during his visit to White Sands National Park in New Mexico to kick off National Park Week.

The administration has lied about the reasons for the mass terminations, saying employees were let go due to poor performance. In reality, the move is an attempt at cost-cutting. Employees in their probationary periods were targeted for the staff cuts, mostly new hires but also long-term employees recently promoted.

NPS waived national park entry frees last Saturday in a bid to draw excitement for National Park Week.

“While touring White Sands National Park, Secretary Burgum observed the vital role paleontology plays in the park’s mission by seeing an array of fossils, including rare prehistoric tracks left by both humans and animals,” NPS said in a release.

These fossil footprints Burgum viewed are found in an area off-limits to the public. The prints prove that humans have lived in North America for far longer than initially understood.

NPS lost 1,000 employees and is struggling to fill seasonal temporary rolls at a time when the agency was already struggling with years of underfunding and a lengthy backlog of overdue maintenance projects.

National parks advocates are warning that visitors traveling to the parks for National Park Week will face longer lines at entryways and visitor centers. They will likely notice that it takes longer for park staff to clean trash cans and service restrooms.

Secretary Burgum has ordered park staff to keep virtually all public areas of the national parks open and accessible to the public, despite the imposed staffing shortages and budget constraints.

“Any closures or reductions to operating hours, seasons, or any visitor services (including trails and campgrounds), in whole or in part, must be reviewed by the NPS Director and the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks before any reduction action by the individual park units,” Burgum’s Secretarial Order warns.

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) slammed the order, saying it will put both visitors and park staff at risk.

“This is yet another attempt by the administration to sideline the expertise of dedicated park staff. It’s micromanagement at its worst,” said NPCA Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Kristen Brengel.

“Years of understaffing and underfunding have already forced many parks to scale back visitor center hours and visitor services,” Brengel added. “And in a matter of weeks, the administration has made a bad situation worse, pushing out hundreds more park staff and piling on obstacles that prevent park staff from doing their jobs.”

Despite the controversy, US national parks are gearing up for a surge in visitations, preparing special programs to welcome them in celebration of National Park Week.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is airing new videos via its social media channels each day where Native Hawaiian elders retell traditional stories about the park’s famous volcanoes.

Blue Ridge Parkway will hold more than a dozen special programs hosted by park rangers. Meanwhile, new US citizens will recite their oath of citizenship at a special ceremony at Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.