Ranger danger
What happens to our national parks when staff disappears?  

For more than a month, the longest government shutdown in American history left our national parks in free fall. When the shutdown began in October, the Interior Department sent more than 9,000 Park Service staff home without pay, with orders to leave most parks open with gates unlocked.  

Since then, visitors have continued flocking to parks: More than 25,000 visitors poured into Utah’s Zion National Park on a single day; at New Mexico’s Bandelier National Monument, hikers went off trail across closed restoration areas; at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, sightseers walked through sensitive meadows, ignoring posted signs.  

Meanwhile, there’s been virtually a public blackout about what’s been happening inside parks after key staffers were fired. That’s because top agency officials curtailed the freedom of park staff to communicate with the public, while website updates went dark. As the shutdown continues, national parks lose $1 million a day in uncollected fees.  

But the government shutdown and its salary hiatus are only the latest blows to national park management. Because of new federal policies aimed at shrinking government agencies, including the Interior Department, one in four Park Service staffers is now gone for good.  

I’ve been learning what this severe cutback looks like as the new Southwest regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the 433 national park sites across the country. I get to care about and advocate for a landscape of remarkable parks across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.  

One of these parks, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, sits close to my home in Paonia, in western Colorado. Early in the Trump administration, federal reductions cut one-third of its staff. That meant even before the shutdown, all custodial workers had lost their jobs. Workers who were already filling in for missing staff had to set aside core responsibilities and shift to bathroom maintenance. 

With no rangers left, signs posted on the canyon’s North Rim warned visitors that they would need to “self-rescue” if they got into trouble. Then came the South Rim fire, which closed the park for the first time in its history, consuming several park buildings though sparing the visitor center. It’s no secret that wildfires in the West are increasing in frequency, even as fewer staff remain to respond.

Of all the American institutions I thought would outlive me, the National Park Service seemed like a safe bet. Throughout 109 years of park history, national polls consistently show that Americans of all stripes love their national parks. They also respect the rangers who bring deep knowledge to their work, rescue adventurers who get into trouble and help ensure that visitors enjoy themselves. People from all over the world come to experience our national parks and monuments because this country has been wise enough to preserve our magnificent landscapes, wildlife and history.  

Yet here we are, witnessing a deliberate effort to mismanage our national parks by depriving them of the very people and funding needed for their upkeep. The Trump administration also plans another round of mass terminations, meaning many furloughed park staff may never return. 

Earlier this year, Congress gutted $267  million from the Park  Service budget, eliminating funding that was congressionally allocated for critical park staffing. President Trump’s proposed 2026 budget also calls for a $1 billion cut, which could force hundreds of  park sites to close across the country.   

By starving the Park Service of necessary money for maintenance and repairs, wildlife management, research and other important functions, the administration is setting up our national parks to be sold out from under the American public or handed over to private interests.  

We’re living in a moment where hypotheticals – once unbelievable – have become possible scenarios. That is, unless Americans speak up loudly. We need strong advocates to ensure that the Park Service can carry out its mission to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.” 

We can help by urging members of Congress to hold the line against more indiscriminate firings of Park Service staff and to restore funding so that parks can rebuild and flourish in the years to come.  

Alex Johnson works for the National Parks Conservation Association, npca.org, and is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West.