Seasonal Employment Reinstated, Expanded At National Parks

“Great development,” as Trump admin caves to public pressure

According to a manager at a major national park, the outcry around job losses in the National Park Service has forced the administration to reverse the cancellation of seasonal hires, and may actually be expanding the number of potential jobs available under the program.

To recap, a “hiring freeze” imposed by President Trump as part of his day one executive orders was supposed to exclude seasonal park service roles. NPS hires 6,000 to 7,500 seasonal employees each summer, scaling to meet the demand of peak seasonal visitation and summer maintenance. But despite the exclusion, NPS contractors who’d already been hired began receiving emails cancelling their contracts in late January.

It’s difficult to fully convey the importance of seasonal jobs at NPS, especially given the fun perception around working at a national park in the summer. But in reality, these roles are as critical as full time ones. They include jobs like entry booth fee collectors, firefighters, law enforcement, and backcountry patrollers.

I reported on the chaos this was creating during the service’s hiring window on February 2nd, but it wasn’t until news of the loss of 1,000 full time jobs at NPS broke late last week that the public really seemed to notice.

Outrage peaked over the long weekend, with news articles across every major outlet, fired staff sharing stories of personal loss in viral social media posts, and much talk of the problems human poop was about to cause to our natural wonders. And, in possibly the first sign of a crack in the administration’s hardline agenda, that pressure appears to have resulted in a policy reversal.

“We didn’t have approval until Wednesday around 2:00 PM,” explains the NPS administrator, who has asked to remain anonymous. They started contacting workers who’d had their contracts cancelled immediately. “All day yesterday we were working on reinstating folks who had already agreed, but whose offers were rescinded. I think next week we will be working on new seasonal offers.”

The administrator explains that the actual number of approved positions nationwide is 7,700, up from the 6,300 hired in recent years. These approved roles remain within NPS only, and do nothing to help with the thousands of seasonal staff, including firefighters, lost at the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, or elsewhere.

The month-long delay in the seasonal hiring process will also have its own impacts on park operations. “HR is gonna be super overloaded,” the administrator explains. “We are telling everyone that their on-duty dates may very well be pushed back to later in the season.”

I asked them if this might make up for the 1,000 lost full-time positions. They explained that the actual number of lost position in their park was small, and that they hope to at least partially fill those rolls with new seasonal contracts. But, that may not be possible elsewhere, especially in park units where expertise lost to the cuts may leave no one able to train seasonal hires for some essential jobs.

Mammoth Cave, and Carlsbad Caverns national parks lost their cave tour guides, the administrator shares as one example, leaving a gap in knowledge and experience it will be hard to replace with new contractors.

They say that the mood within the park service has improved noticeably. And add, “I do think they public outcry helped significantly.”

The administrator explains that efforts to seek relief from the administration fell on deaf ears, until all the coverage seemed to force their hand.

I asked them what the public can do to continue to support NPS staff and operations.

“Right now we are working on two goals: 1) Reinstate our fired coworkers, and 2) Unionize across the entire service,” they explain. “And there are three strategies to get us there: 1) Pressure Congress through contact and protest, 2) Build public support through traditional and social media, and 3) Build and organize our networks.”

That we now have an indication that the administration can and will relent to public pressure is very encouraging. Stay tuned, and I’ll be bringing you actionable ways to help as park employees continue to organize.

Wes Siler is your guide to leading a more exciting life outdoors. Upgrading to a paid subscription supports independent journalism and gives you personal access to his expertise and network, which he’ll use to help you plan trips, purchase gear, and solve problems. You can read more about what he’s doing on Substack through this link.