National Parks across the US are cutting back hours, closing visitor centers, canceling cave tours, and warning of more cutbacks after the Trump administration made cuts to the federal workforce. In some cases, staffing has also been reduced.

Trump Federal layoffs impact on US National Parks

Speaking to USA Today, Cassidy Jones, a former park service ranger who now works for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association said:

I think it’s going to be a very rough spring.

Examples of the affected national parks include Saguaro National Park in Tucson, which has announced that its two visitor centers will close starting Monday, February 24. Effigy Mounds in Iowa is also closing its visitor center for two days a week up until summer.

Meanwhile, at Yosemite National Park, officials have stopped reservations for 577 camping spots this summer. Carlsbad Caverns National Park has canceled its guided tours.

Meanwhile, earlier in February the Trump administration started firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees.

Around 1,000 employees laid off

On what has since been dubbed the Valentine’s Day Massacre, Trump announced the cuts last Friday. Moreover, in addition to the cuts by the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, other similar cuts have hit the Department of Agriculture. That department oversees the US Forest Service and thousands of wildland firefighters and forest rangers.

Around 1,000 National Park Service employees were laid off in that round. National Park employees say parks were already understaffed when the Trump administration made the cuts.

Officials say the reductions were to “make good” on the president’s promise to reduce the size of the US government and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. However, advocates say the cuts will hurt the park’s users: the American public.

Aaron Weiss, Deputy Director of the Public Lands Advocacy Group, Center for Western Priorities said:

I don’t know whether we’ll see overflowing latrines, polluted streams, or deadly wildfires first, but Doug Burgum is already leaving a path of destruction across America’s parks and public lands.

These terminations are foolish, heartless and do nothing to make the government more efficient.

Bad time of year for the national parks

Meanwhile, Jones added that the cuts have injected uncertainty at a bad time of the year. This comes when parks are preparing for the spring and summer travel season, developing school field trip programs and conducting community outreach.

We’ve spent millions and millions and millions of dollars marketing America’s National Parks to the world and now we’re just throwing away that money. Are we making these cuts to low-paying jobs so we can give a bigger tax break to the rich? Is that the plan?

More than 325 million people visited US National Parks in 2023.

Readers, are any among you planning to visit a national park this spring or summer? Will this upset your plans?