Senators Issue Dire Warning Over National Parks Cuts – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
Twenty-two democratic and independent U.S. senators sent a letter Feb. 7 to newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum imploring him to reconsider drastic measures taken by the Trump administration to reduce the workforce of the National Park Service, warning that the deep staffing cuts could force some national parks to close, according to a report by SFGate.com.
The letter comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 federal hiring freeze, which saw more than 2,000 job offers to seasonal Park Service employees rescinded. The administration has also offered early retirement and resignation options to millions of federal employees, including all of those who work for the park service.
“If a significant number of National Park Service employees take one of the offers – or further terminations are made – park staffing will be in chaos,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Not only does this threaten the full suite of visitor services, but could close entire parks altogether.”
The letter was provided to SFGATE by Don Neubacher, a former Yosemite superintendent and member of the executive council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
The senators urged Burgum to “immediately reissue seasonal employment offers” and rescind the “damaging and short-sighted” early retirement offers. The rescinded job offers have included thousands of interpretative rangers, law enforcement rangers, visitor center employees and maintenance workers.
Around 1,900 Park Service employees have already resigned, according to Neubacher. “That’s a little less than 10% of the park’s workforce,” Neubacher told SFGATE. “That’s a lot of people.”
To prepare for the rush of summertime visitors, the park service regularly hires more than 6,000 seasonal employees, the senators wrote in their letter. “Without seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers may close, bathrooms will be filthy, campgrounds may close, guided tours will be cut back or altogether cancelled, emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable,” they wrote.
Click here to read the full report by SFGate.com.
