How Will Virginia Be Affected By National Park Service Firings?

VIRGINIA — The Trump administration’s firing of hundreds of newly hired National Park Service employees could limit operating hours and cut a range of services at attractions such as Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park, which bring in $32 million and $96 million, respectively, in tourism money to Virginia.

The approximately 1,000 employees who were fired provide services such as maintaining and cleaning parks and staffing visitor education programs.

The firings weren’t publicly announced but were confirmed by Democratic senators and House members to The Associated Press.

The firings come amid what has been a chaotic rollout of an aggressive program to eliminate thousands of federal jobs led by billionaire Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump administration effort to slash federal spending.

“The Musk-Trump Administration’s purge of the federal civil service is illegal, terrible for the country, and paves the way for increased corruption,” said U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia).

“Federal workers and their expertise are vital to Americans’ health and security,” Beyer added. “They work everyday to protect us from disease, crime, and threats foreign and domestic. They ensure our seniors have Social Security and Medicare, they provide care to veterans, and they deliver our mail. Trump’s plan to massively reduce the workforce providing those services will severely damage the delivery of those services.”

Adding to the staffing confusion, the park service said it is reinstating about 5,000 seasonal jobs that had been rescinded as part of the hiring freeze ordered last month by President Donald Trump. These are seasonal workers routinely added during the warm-weather months to serve more than 325 million visitors to the nation’s 428 parks, historic sites and other attractions each year.

Park advocates fear that permanent staff cuts will leave hundreds of national parks — including heavily visited treasures such as Great Smoky Mountains National Park or Grand Canyon National Park — understaffed and facing tough decisions about operating hours, public safety and resource protection.

Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, predicted in an interview with The AP that trash will pile up, restrooms won't be cleaned, and maintenance problems will grow, “pushing an already overwhelmed Park Service to its breaking point.”

“It puts the park service in an untenable position,” she said. “You’re going to hurt tourism.”

The firings may force small parks to close visitor centers and other facilities, while larger parks will have to function without cultural resources workers who help visitors interpret the park, fee collectors and even wastewater treatment operators, she said.

National Park Service-managed facilities in Virginia bring in about $1.5 billion a year in visitor spending and add about $1.3 billion in value to the state economy, according to agency data. Before the job cuts, 21,200 people are employed by the Park Service in the state.

Brengel told The AP the cuts are “basically knee-capping” employees needed to train seasonal workers. For example, 16 of 17 supervisory positions at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park were eliminated, she said, leaving just one person to hire, train and supervise dozens of seasonal employees expected this summer.

At Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, fee collectors and trail maintenance employees were laid off, potentially making trails at the Washington, D.C.-area park unpassable after heavy rains.

Related: VA Feds Impacted By Trump Cuts Need Online Resource: Fairfax Co. Board

The AP said a spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the park service, declined to comment Monday. A separate email to the park service received no answer.

A freeze on spending under a five-year-old law signed by Trump also jeopardizes national parks, Brengel and other advocates said. The Great American Outdoors Act, passed with bipartisan support in 2020 and signed by Trump, authorizes $6.5 billion over five years to maintain and improve national parks.

The program is crucial to whittling down a massive maintenance backlog at the parks and is frequently hailed as a success story by lawmakers from both parties.

The freeze could slow road and bridge improvements at Yellowstone National Park, which is in the midst of a $216 million project to improve safety, access and experience on park roads. The project is mostly funded by the Great American Outdoors Act.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.