Interior secretary orders national parks to be open and accessible as workforce is cut
Source: AP
Updated 4:51 PM EDT, April 4, 2025
Under criticism for staff cuts across the country, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is directing national parks to “remain open and accessible” and says officials will ensure proper staffing to do so. The order, issued late Thursday, also calls for a detailed review of each park’s operating hours, trail closures and other limits on visitor services.
Burgum said in the order that his department and the National Park Service “are committed to ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to visit and enjoy our Nation’s most treasured places.”
But park advocates and others criticized the move and questioned how park employees could comply, given the Trump administration’s workforce reductions through voluntary separation offers, layoffs and an earlier hiring freeze. Fewer workers can mean shorter hours, delays, closed campgrounds, overflowing trash bins, unkept bathrooms, and risks to public safety, they say.
The park service has lost somewhere near 1,500 permanent employees since the beginning of this year, Rick Mossman, president of the Arizona-based Association of National Park Rangers, said Friday in a statement. And it’s “bracing for another reduction in force expected in the very near future.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-parks-open-workers-fired-burgum-279dac0653f3e1af839b14668bf3d2d7
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