Washington — When families came to Yosemite National Park during spring break recently, some had to wait up to two hours at the entrance. At a lakeside location in the North Cascades in Washington state, there were not enough staff to open a visitor center. And in Death Valley, water was shut off at two campgrounds.
National parks staff and advocates fear such issues could get even worse this summer, as the park system faces a busy season with dramatically reduced staff. In Yosemite, concerns have been raised by the recent closure of the park by the National Park Service Timed Entry Reservation SystemWhich led to long spring-break lines.
“We’re certainly really nervous and concerned about the upcoming season, especially with the staffing shortage we already have,” said a member of the National Federation of Federal Employees union in Yosemite, requesting anonymity to speak candidly.
The National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its employees to buyouts, early retirements and other departures since the Trump administration took office last year. according to an estimate By the National Parks Conservation Association. This month, the administration has proposed cutting nearly 3,000 more positions in its 2027 budget. It also recently offered a new round of buyouts.
The pressure to make even more cuts to the park system — not just ahead of peak season, but ahead of America’s 250th birthday, which the Trump administration has promoted with respect to national parks — has underlined ongoing questions about how smoothly the parks can operate due to warmer weather and summer holidays.
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 despite spending and staffing cuts.
He said the agency plans to hire 5,500 seasonal workers and asked Congress to approve funding to allow those employees to work for a nine-month term instead of six.
“All of this will help us get this thing into shape, even with the overall reduction,” Burgum said Wednesday.
He faced skepticism from Democrats, who confronted him on the spending proposal.
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told Burgum, “This is just a recipe for disaster.”
Congress will have the final say on the proposed cuts, but in the meantime, the cuts that have already taken place have presented challenges last season and are likely to do so again, said Cheryl Schreiber, retired superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial and president of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
Whether parks will find enough qualified candidates to hire the required number of seasonal workers is also “a really big concern,” he said. “It’s really important to have all those individuals in place to be able to operate the park well.”
Campers prepare food in Yosemite Valley last December. 9, 2025 in Yosemite, CA.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Low staffing has created concerns about the parks’ capacity for emergency response, protection of natural landscapes, and patron maintenance. For example, fewer rangers could mean fewer people able to reach dehydrated, stranded or lost hikers, said Chance Wilcox, California desert director for the National Park Conservation Association.
A Park Service spokesperson said Friday that staffing decisions are made based on local conditions at each park and that the agency “focuses on ensuring that the parks remain open, accessible and safe for visitors.”
According to the Department of the Interior, approximately 323 million people visit America’s national parks annually. While parks can expect heavy traffic, the decline in international tourism and rising gas prices have created additional uncertainty in the tourism industry this year.
The number of Canadians visiting the United States has declined since Trump took office, According to the Canadian government – The number of Canadians making car trips to the United States this March declined by 35% compared to March 2024.
interior department also New fee of $100 per person introduced Non-Americans are barred from entering 11 of the most popular parks, a step to raise money for the parks but an added pressure for Canadians and other international visitors coming across the border.
At Senate and House hearings on the Interior budget, Burgum presented a vision of the national park system where most employees must work in a park and interact with visitors, and said he was more focused on filling those roles than on jobs in regional offices.
“Our goal is to actually get more people to work in the parks,” he told senators.
An Interior Department spokesperson said the agency was “pursuing high-priority reforms” throughout the system.
“Secretary Burgum has been clear that resources must be prioritized for visitor-facing services, public safety, maintenance, and projects that improve the experience for the American people,” an Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
Critics say the strategy displays a misunderstanding of how the 109-year-old agency works. Wilcox said employees who work in contracts, human resources, IT, communications and other organizational and administrative jobs are essential to keeping the parks running.
Wilcox of the National Park Conservation Association said, “If everything was visitor-facing or up-front, the whole agency would have collapsed backwards.”
The decision to close the reservation system at Yosemite – as well as Arches and Glacier national parks – is another part of Interior’s mission to bring more people to the parks. The Park Service announced the policy in February, saying the concept was “designed to expand public access” this summer. It maintained a timed admission reservation system in Rocky Mountain National Park for the peak season.
Visitors take photos as they walk through Muir Woods National Monument in Muir Woods National Monument, California, on July 24, 2025.
(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Besides causing long lines, cramming too many people into parks at once can harm the environment, especially if people park cars in natural areas, said Don Neubacher, retired Yosemite superintendent and member of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
“This is going to be mass chaos,” he said.
On a Saturday in late March, John Christensen of Corsgold, Calif., went to the park with his 38-year-old son. He said he was surprised to find a two-hour wait to enter the park, as well as at least a half-hour search for parking after passing through the gate.
“It was almost like Disneyland. It was really inconvenient to have so many people approach,” said Christensen, 82. “It’s disturbing to see that they’ve opened the floodgates and now it’s ruining everyone’s experience.”
The Yosemite union member said there are rangers doing a lot of the work and last summer he helped clean the bathrooms in the absence of custodial staff. Now they too are worried about the possibility of a standoff.
The worker asked summer visitors to bring patience: “The National Park Service people… they would be grateful for any compassion and sympathy.”
