While some retired and current National Park Service officials claim federal cuts will cause chaos in the parks this summer, others — including the person who used to oversee the National Park Service — say it’s hyperbole and the parks will be just fine.
“I think there was some hyperbole involved” in doom-laden statements coming from a group of retired National Park Service officials, Teton County resident Rob Wallace told Cowboy State Daily.
Wallace was assistant secretary of the Interior during the first administration of President Donald Trump. In that position, he oversaw both the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Park Service.
The Coalition To Protect America’s National Parks predicts a miserable summer because of the current Trump administration’s cuts to the Park Service’s budget and roster of employees.
However, it was apparently business as usual over Memorial Day weekend at Grand Teton and Yellowstone. But it’s still too early to tell how the peak season will play out, state Sen. Mike Gierau, D-Jackson, told Cowboy State Daily.
Grand Teton and about half of Yellowstone are in his district.
The period between the Fourth of July and Labor Day is “when the park cooks,” so that’s when negative effects of federal cuts might manifest themselves, he said.
‘This Is A Crisis’
The coalition includes retired top brass officials from the Park Service, as well as some current employees and others.
In a recent statement, the group warned park visitors across the country to expect a terrible summer season, with long lines, filthy public restrooms and a general lack of service.
“This is a crisis," said Don Neubacher, former superintendent of Yosemite National Park, in the statement.
“Visitors this summer to our beloved national parks in California should be concerned about the possibility of longer entrance lines, reduced services, closed campgrounds, dirty bathrooms and overflowing trash bins,” he added. “After all the chaotic cuts and hiring freezes, the quality experience that visitors have come to expect will be difficult to provide.”
Yosemite was requiring reservations to enter the park from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. — including even to just drive through it —over Memorial Day Weekend.
Those restrictions will apply from June 15 to Aug. 15, and over Labor Day Weekend, according to reports from Yosemite.
Business As Usual In Wyoming
Things apparently went smoothly at Grand Teton and Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend, which traditionally kicks off the ramp-up to peak summer season, Wallace and Gierau said.
Time will tell if the coalition’s dire predictions play out in Wyoming, they added.
“We’re going to know early on whether these assumptions (from the coalition) are going to come to pass,” Wallace said. “My prediction is, it will be just fine.”
Gierau was less optimistic, saying that things could get chaotic in Wyoming’s premier parks as the summer wears on and the parks start to lose seasonal staff through attrition.
Seasonal Staff Is The Key
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been ordering staff and budget cuts to numerous federal agencies, including the Park Service.
Supporters have hailed DOGE’s actions as a long-overdue trimming of government fat. Detractors argue that the cuts are arbitrary and go too deep.
Wallace said that initially, there were to be freezes on the hiring of seasonal National Park Service employees.
However, that was rescinded and seasonal staffing levels at Yellowstone and Grand Teton are apparently the same as last year, he said.
The parks rely heavily on seasonal employees to provide many of the basic services to visitors. And so far, that seems to be working, Gierau said.
As the season wears on, some of the seasonal staff will likely start to leave, particularly students who must get back to college, he said.
He said that he’s concerned about the stress on his constituents who are full-time National Park Service employees. For them, working in the parks is more than just an occupation.
“It’s a job, it’s a home and it’s a culture,” he said.
The Park Service is resilient, he added.
“I think the leadership in the parks is going to do everything they can to make it work,” Gierau said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
