National Park Employees Face Mass Layoffs—Here’s How It Will Impact Your Vacation

President Donald Trump’s administration has been conducting mass layoffs across the federal government, including at the National Park Service (NPS). The reduction in the NPS workforce could negatively impact your summer vacation with overgrown trails and backed-up toilets.

Newsweek reached out to the NPS via email for comment on Wednesday.

What is President Trump and His Administration Doing to National Parks?

Trump and his administration have fired roughly 1,000 newly hired NPS employees, according to the Associated Press. While this number has not been publically announced, it was confirmed by Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, roughly 5,000 seasonal jobs that were rescinded in January under a hiring freeze directed by Trump are now being reinstated, the AP reported, citing the NPS.

So what does this mean for your next trip to a national state park?

One NPS employee told Politico in an article published Tuesday that a decrease in staffing could lead to maintenance issues like overgrown trails and degraded roads.

“That doesn’t happen over a week or two of shutdown, but if you did that for a year? Nobody to pump the toilets in a month?” the employee, who has worked at Western National Parks for over 10 years said.

But NPS employees do more than just maintain the park. Park rangers like Brian Gibbs from Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument, who lost his job with the NPS last week, add a personal touch to your summer vacation.

In a Facebook post from last Friday, Gibbs wrote: “I am the smiling face that greets you at the front door. I am your family vacation planner.”

He continued: “I am the protector of 2500 year old American Indian burial and ceremonial mounds. I am the defender of your public lands and waters. I am the motivation to make it up the hill.”

“I am the lesson that showed your children that we live in a world of gifts- not commodities, that gratitude and reciprocity are the doorway to true abundance, not power, money, or fear,” Gibbs added. “I am the one who told your child that they belong on this planet. That their unique gifts and existence matters.”

Why Are National Parks Employees Getting Fired?

Thousands of federal workers have been pushed out of their jobs by the Trump administration to reduce government waste. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who heads Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and his team have worked to dismantle whole agencies like the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) since Trump took office last month.

Roughly 75,000 workers voluntarily left their jobs after the Trump administration gave 2 million federal employees the option to resign with the promise of eight months of salary and the warning that if they were to stay at their jobs, their roles might be cut anyway.

To further slice the federal workforce, the Trump administration started laying off probationary workers, employees who are less than a year, or sometimes two years, into their jobs and have fewer protections. Some career government workers have also come out to say that they were laid off without warning.

How Many National Parks Are There in the U.S.?

The NPS manages 433 parks, historic sites and other units covering over 85 million acres across the U.S. Over 325 million people visited the parks in 2023. Seasonal workers are used to help with the influx of visitors during the warm-weather months.