National Park Service Alaska Regional Office Decimated by Staff Cuts and Consolidation

ANCHORAGE – The National Park Service regional office in Alaska has lost an estimated one-third of its staff, as the Trump administration aims to reorganize and downsize the Department of Interior through consolidation and pressured buyout tactics.

The National Parks Conservation Association learned this from a detailed examination of internal National Park Service memos and documentation. NPCA’s analysis was first reported in an exclusive story for USA TODAY.

This loss of more than 60 expert employees is just the latest blow from the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to gut the National Park Service by slashing staff and shuttering critically needed park facilities. Another major Reduction in Force (RIF) for the agency is likely in the near future.

The Alaska Regional Office is one of seven regional supportive offices that provide vital oversight and expertise to the park units within those geographic areas. Alaska is home to a sprawling 24 national park sites that protect more than 50 million acres of land, ranging from remote wilderness to popular cruise ship voyage paths. The sheer scale of Alaska national parks – more than 60 percent of the entire National Park System – makes the Alaska Regional Office essential for park operations.

The devastating staff loss at the Alaska Regional Office is part of a clear pattern. Since May 2, the Trump administration has transferred more than 1,600 national park staff from regional offices and park sites, reclassifying them solely as Department of the Interior employees. This consolidation effort will make it easier to fire these dedicated career staff and force them to serve an administration’s political agenda rather than protect our parks for the American people.

Elsewhere in Alaska, essential staff at Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve have lost critical leaders in recent weeks. It’s unclear whether these consolidated staff will be able to continue working to protect national parks in their new positions.

The administration has forced National Park Service employees at regional offices and beyond into early retirement and pressured buyout packages, further decimating the ranks of talented staff. Despite public outcry and deep concern from national park advocates, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has repeatedly targeted regional offices for deep staff and resource cuts even though they serve as experts, project managers, and scientists for our parks.

At the Alaska Regional Office, these cuts and consolidation programs have eliminated crucial positions, including the Regional Chief Ranger overseeing law enforcement, as well as experts working on wildlife monitoring and cultural resources protection. The office has lost deeply needed outdoor recreation planners, concessions managers, and more.

There is now just one staff member leading archaeology and cultural resource protection for all of Alaska’s national park sites, and just a handful of staff remain to work with hundreds of Alaska Native tribes whose culture, food security, and traditional ways of life are protected by those parks.

Other deep cuts include the loss of Inventory & Monitoring specialists, who monitor and maintain remote infrastructure that tracks sensitive resources protected by Alaska’s far-ranging parklands, like whales and other iconic wildlife. The already stretched-thin eleven-person Inventory & Monitoring team has now been whittled down to four. Some of the staff who have been forced out or consolidated into Interior maintained weather monitoring systems that help keep pilots safe as they fly in notoriously dangerous Alaska airspace.

“From Gates of the Arctic to Glacier Bay, Alaska’s 54 million acres of national parkland make it a dream destination for people around the world. Outdoor enthusiasts come to Alaska to hike its towering mountains and glaciers, cast a line in its gorgeous rivers, or witness the famed Fat Bears at Katmai. Why is the administration meddling with the protection of Alaska’s national parks and our $5.6 billion-dollar outdoor economy? It makes zero sense.” Said Alex Johnson, Alaska Campaign Director with the National Parks Conservation Association.

“More than half of our country’s national parkland is in Alaska, and the people who visit those parks expect a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Visitors cannot have that experience if these stunning, irreplaceable places do not have the staff to protect them. The Alaska Regional Office provides the vitally needed conservation expertise, Tribal consultation, environmental engineering, law enforcement, and other services that make sure those once-in-a-lifetime experiences for people are possible. How is the Park Service supposed to serve the American people when the Trump administration keeps cutting staff and kneecapping regional offices like this?” Johnson concluded.

About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.6 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.