National Parks cutting hours, limiting services as Trump layoffs reduce staffing
Source: USA Today
Published 6:03 a.m. ET Feb. 22, 2025 | Updated 1:21 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2025
National Parks across the country are cutting hours, cancelling cave tours, closing visitor centers and warning of other cutbacks following Trump administration cuts to the federal workforce. Park advocates and fired employees have been predicting those impacts for weeks, but a string of social media posts from park managers made after the Feb. 14 cuts appear to be the first formal acknowledgements.
A Facebook post from the tiny Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado announcing service cuts drew more than 10,000 comments. "I think it's going to be a very rough spring," said Cassidy Jones, a former park service ranger who now works for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.
Among other parks, Saguaro National Park in Tucson announced that it was closing its two visitors centers on Mondays starting Feb. 24. At Yosemite National Park, officials announced they're halting reservations for 577 coveted camping spots this summer. Effigy Mounds in Iowa said it's closing its visitor center two days a week until the summer.
Online calendars for reservable tours in some parks show zero availability, a casualty of losing the rangers who led them. Carlsbad Caverns National Park has cancelled its guided tours, and announced that in March it will be ending self-guided tours. Visitors to other parks are also noting staffing problems, including at Grand Canyon National Park, where terminations cut deeply into the employees who staff the entrance stations, leading to long lines last weekend.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/02/22/national-parks-trump-layoffs-cuts-limit-resources/79441099007/
I have been to the Florissant Fossil Beds (and Garden of the Gods). Was there in the area for a training course for a couple weeks 40 years ago. Beautiful beautiful area.
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