National parks are gearing up for a summer surge as the Trump administration proposes more staff cuts

WASHINGTON – When families flocked to Yosemite National Park during their recent spring break, some encountered two-hour waits at the entrance gates. At a lakeside resort in Washington state’s North Cascades, there aren’t enough workers to open a visitor center. Also in Death Valley, water was shut off at two campgrounds.

National parks officials and advocates fear these problems could worsen this summer, as the park system faces a busy season with severely reduced staff. In Yosemite, concerns have been compounded by the National Park Service’s recent elimination of the timed entry reservation system, which has led to long spring break lines.

“We are really nervous and worried about the upcoming season, especially because of the shortage of workers we already have,” said a member of the National Federation of Federal Employees union in Yosemite who asked not to be identified to speak freely.

The National Park Service has lost about a quarter of its workforce through buyouts, early retirements and other departures since the administration took office last year, according to an estimate by the National Parks Conservation Assn. This month, the administration proposed cutting nearly 3,000 more positions in its 2027 budget. It also offered a new latest round of purchases.

The pressure to cut the park system and more — just before the high season but on America’s 250th birthday, inspired by the Trump administration in relation to national parks — has underscored ongoing questions about how the parks can operate more smoothly as warmer weather and summer vacations draw visitors.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended the budget proposal on Capitol Hill last week, telling senators that the visitor experience at the parks could be improved even if spending and staffing cuts were made.

He said the agency plans to hire 5,500 seasonal workers and asked Congress to pass funding for those workers to work nine months instead of six months.

“All of that is going to help us get this thing in shape, even the overall reduction,” Burgum said Wednesday.

He met with skepticism from Democrats, who confronted him about the spending proposal.

“That’s just a recipe for disaster,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told Burgum.

Congress will have the final say on the proposed reductions, but for now, the reductions that have taken place have presented challenges last season and appear likely to do so again, said Cheryl Schreier, retired superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial and chairwoman of the National Parks Conservancy.

Whether the parks will find enough qualified people to hire the number of staff needed at certain times of the year is also “a really big problem,” he said. “It’s very important that all those people can use the park in a good way.”

The understaffing has raised concerns about the parks’ capacity to respond to emergencies, environmental protection and conservation. Fewer rangers can say, for example, that fewer people have reached dehydrated, lost or lost hikers, said Chance Wilcox, California desert director for the National Parks Conservation Assn.

A park service spokeswoman said Friday that staffing decisions are made based on local conditions at each park and that the agency is “focused on ensuring that parks remain open, accessible and safe for visitors.”

About 323 million people visit America’s national parks every year, according to the Department of the Interior. Although the parks can expect heavy traffic, the drop in foreign tourism and the increase in gas prices have added more uncertainty to the tourism industry this year.

The number of Canadians visiting America has decreased since Trump took office, according to the Canadian government – with the number of Canadians making car trips to the United States this March dropping by 35% compared to March 2024.

The Department of the Interior also instituted a new $100 per person entry fee for non-Americans entering 11 popular parks, a measure to raise money for the parks but also in addition to Canadians coming to the border and other foreign visitors.

In Senate and House hearings on the internal budget, Burgum presented the idea of ​​a national parking system as a place where most of the staff should work in the park and interact with visitors, and said that he is more focused on filling those roles than jobs in regional offices.

“Our goal is to have more people working in the parks,” he told senators.

A spokesman for the Home Office said the agency was “making significant improvements” to the entire system.

“Secretary Burgum has been clear that resources must be prioritized for services that deal with visitors, public safety, care and projects that improve the experience of the American people,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement Friday.

Critics say the strategy shows a misunderstanding of how the 109-year-old organization works. Contract workers, human resources, IT, communications and other organizational and administrative functions are essential to keeping the parks running, Wilcox said.

“If everything was tourist-oriented or forward-looking, the whole organization would fall behind,” said Wilcox, of the National Parks Conservation Assn.

The decision to end the reservation system at Yosemite — as well as at Arches and Glacier national parks — is part of an internal drive to bring more people to the parks. The concept was “designed to increase public access” this summer, the park service said when it announced the policy in February. Maintain a timed reservation system in Rocky Mountain National Park during peak season.

Visitors take photos while walking through Muir Woods National Monument on July 24, 2025 in Muir Woods National Monument, California.

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

In addition to creating long lines, cramming too many people into parks at once can lead to environmental damage, especially if people park in natural areas, said Don Neubacher, a retired Yosemite superintendent and member of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

“There will be great chaos,” he said.

On a Saturday in late March, Jon Christenson of Coarsegold, Calif., drove to the park with his 38-year-old son. They were surprised to find a two-hour wait to enter the park, as well as a search for a parking space at least half an hour after entering the gates, he said.

“It was almost like Disneyland. It was really uncomfortable for so many people,” said Christenson, 82.

Lifeguards there do a lot of work, and last summer they helped clean bathrooms without lifeguards, a Yosemite union member said. Now they too, are worried about the possibility of gridlock.

The official asked summer visitors to be patient: “The people of the National Park Service … would appreciate any mercy and compassion.”