Visitors tour the dwellings at Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park on July 12, 2017. (Photo by Joe Amon/The Denver Post)Parks system faces other challenges
Advocates for the parks said the staffing uncertainty comes as the national parks system already faces a trifecta of problems: a reduced workforce, budget cuts, and finding employee housing in remote and expensive resort areas.
Between 2010 and 2023, the staffing in the agency declined 20% — by about 3,500 full-time jobs, according to federal data reviewed by the National Parks Conservation Association. Visitation surged 16% in that same period.
“The National Park Service, the men and women who make up that organization, are under tremendous stress and they have been for some time — it’s only growing,” said Steele, who retired from the parks system in 2015 after 38 years with the agency. “It’s just kind of this vicious circle, as more and more people come to the parks and you have fewer resources to serve them and protect the resources they’re there to see — it just makes it really stressful.”
Layoffs, early retirement and deferred resignations from permanent staff members could impact the long-term resilience of the parks as the climate changes, Coppola said. Scientists at the park service who study climate change, wildfire risk and mitigation are crucial, but those are positions that could be at risk, she said.
“It’s extremely demoralizing and obviously the essence of disrespect to people who have dedicated their careers to protecting these landscapes we love,” Coppola said of the looming threat of layoffs in the federal workforce.
Dismantling parks staffing will do little to fix the national debt and will instead weaken institutions that are a net gain for the economy, Coppola said.
In Colorado alone, she said, national parks hosted 7 million visitors, supported 11,000 jobs and funneled $796 million to local communities in 2023.
“I really think parks have always been a bridge for so many people, no matter how they identify,” Coppola said. “So we’re continuing to fight for that vision because it’s more important now than ever.”
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Originally Published: February 17, 2025 at 2:53 PM MST
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Publish date : 2025-02-17 09:21:00
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