‘Protect Every Park’ Report: National Park Service’s Mission Is in Jeopardy

The National Park Service has lost a quarter of its permanent staff since January due to actions by the Trump administration, adding to an already devastating 20% staffing cut since 2010. The administration also lags behind on its pledge to hire nearly 8,000 seasonal staff, with just over half of those positions filled so far.

A new analysis by NPCA and other groups details the consequences of these losses. The analysis finds that continued staffing cuts jeopardize the Park Service’s core mission, which is to preserve America’s natural and historic treasures “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

In other words, these administrative actions could destroy the Park Service’s entire purpose unless Congress, which created the federal agency in 1916, steps up before it’s too late.

“The future of America’s national parks is at risk. It took more than a century to build a world-class park system, and this administration could unravel it in a matter of months,” Theresa Pierno, NPCA’s president and CEO, said in announcing the analysis.

The analysis, titled “Protect Every Park and the Staff Who Steward Them: A Call to Congress to Defend America’s National Parks,” was prepared by NPCA, The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Association of National Park Rangers and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. It documents the many impacts of staff losses, funding cuts, lack of resources and policy changes, including those that limit or take away public input and attempt to erase history. The analysis also gives directives to Congress for what they need to do to safeguard America’s most treasured places and the people who steward them — not just now but for future generations.

Impacts of staff losses

The loss of a quarter of permanent staff between January and early July due to terminations, pressured buyouts, deferred resignations and early retirement offers equates to roughly 4,000 employees. The drop has led to reduced visitor services across the country — as well as canceled educational programs, delayed maintenance and conservation work, unfilled law enforcement positions, threats to cultural and natural resource protection, and the forfeiture of decades of institutional knowledge and specialized experience.

Examples of park-specific problems:

• Gateway National Recreation Area does not have enough lifeguards to safely staff the same number of beaches as in prior years. Some of its beaches have no lifeguards.

• Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is unable to fill 24 of the park’s 74 positions. All custodial staff have been terminated, so other, higher graded maintenance employees are being directed away from their regular duties to perform custodial functions. A wildfire in mid-July added more stress to the park’s remaining staff.

• Regional offices in Alaska, which provide vital oversight and expertise for 54 million acres of national parkland, lost an estimated 60 staffers.

• National Parks of Boston, which are hosting thousands of visitors in advance of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, have 50 vacancies among full-time employees.

Without adequate staffing, the Park Service also will be stretched to sustain the progress made in air and water quality, wildlife management and cultural preservation, particularly as rising sea levels impact artifacts in coastal parks such as Colonial National Historical Park.

4 actions Congress must take

Protecting America’s heritage means protecting the people who steward it. This includes upholding the laws that guide the National Park Service, such as congressional mandates to provide “the highest quality interpretation and education” and to manage parks using “the highest quality science and information.”

That’s why NPCA is calling on Congress to hold the administration accountable and uphold its own responsibility to protect America’s national parks, now and for generations to come. Specifically, the report’s authors call on Congress to:

1. Stop the erosion of America’s national parks and restore the staffing and support these places need by ending the hiring freeze, requiring all vacant positions be filled and opposing any Park Service-wide reduction in force. Essential Park Service staff in science, cultural resources and operations at regional and national offices should be fully reinstated to ensure parks have the expertise and support they need to function safely and effectively,

2. Prevent short-sighted decisions that threaten to deauthorize, transfer or defund some of the 433 national park units, including historic sites, national seashores and lakeshores, and recreation areas.

3. Reject proposals to privatize core Park Service operations, which threaten to shift the agency’s mission from public stewardship to profit, undermining both resource protection and visitor experience.

4. Protect the public’s voice in decisions that shape the future of our national parks and reject any efforts — legislative or administrative — to shorten public comment periods or weaken environmental and cultural resource review processes.

‘A legacy that belongs to all Americans’

The United States pioneered the idea of protecting special places for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and our park system has become a worldwide model for preserving natural landscapes and a country’s history.

As the report outlines, America’s national parks reflect shared values and democratic ideals, serve as national classrooms, and preserve ecosystems that support the well-being of communities across the country. They contribute over $55 billion to the nation’s economy and support more than 415,000 jobs annually. Americans deeply value their national parks, as reflected by the millions who explore them each year — more than 331 million visits in 2024 alone — and polling that consistently shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose budget and staffing cuts to parks.

“A nation’s true prosperity lies in how it protects its natural and cultural heritage — its wildlife, landscapes and the historic places and sites that shaped its path. These values can’t be measured on a balance sheet,” the authors write in the report.

“We cannot allow this administration to decimate the National Park System and erase a legacy that belongs to all Americans. Congress must hear loud and clear: Americans will not stand by while one of the defining pillars of our national identity is undermined.”