Among the hottest U.S. nationwide parks have seen document numbers of tourists all through the spring and summer time, together with a 25% lack of workers because of funding cuts (which may attain greater than $1 billion within the Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal), hiring freezes till a minimum of October, and mass NPS worker layoffs earlier in 2025—a few of whom were later reinstated after lawsuits deemed the firings unlawful.
Nonetheless, regardless of lowered workers and a surge in vacationers, Secretary of the Inside Doug Burgum issued an order again in April mandating all parks to stay “open and accessible.” The outcome? Strained nationwide parks, workers doing greater than ever with fewer assets (like scientists cleaning toilets), and the grim reality of long lines at entrances, as recently seen at Yellowstone amid document customer figures. Allegedly, some seasonal employees at Yosemite even worked for weeks without pay, based on a news release by The Affiliation of Nationwide Park Rangers. Now, one other park is hitting the headlines, this time for its present and former workers making their voices heard proper outdoors the gates on a very essential day—one which was considerably ironic for the Montana congressman in query, who was on a particular go to to the park on the time.
Like many parks, former park rangers and volunteers, in addition to members of the general public, say that Glacier Nationwide Park can also be feeling the hits to funding and workers. That is the message from these protesting on Wednesday on the park’s entrance. Protesters claiming the U.S. authorities has “gutted funding” and “gutted workers” flocked to the park’s gates to ship their message. That message is that this: Glacier is “being cherished to demise” amid heightened visitation, and the continued decreased workforce and monetary shortfalls imply workers and customer security, park upkeep, conservation, and extra are all in danger. What’s extra, some park workers accuse the Trump administration of deliberately setting parks up for failure, creating an excuse to promote public land off to non-public patrons.
Protests At Glacier Nationwide Park Over Funding And Employees Cuts Erupted On A Significantly Ironic Day
Dozens of former nationwide park rangers, park volunteers, and Montana locals protested on the gateway to Glacier Nationwide Park on Wednesday, 20 August, voicing their considerations about workers cuts and hiring freezes, which have affected many nationwide park websites throughout the U.S., not solely Glacier.
First reported in an unbelievable tell-all by The Guardian, the rally was timed for the Congressional Western Caucus’s go to, during which Montana Republican congressional consultant Ryan Zinke, who can also be the previous Secretary of the Inside, got here to unveil the success of the 2020 Nice American Outdoor Act at Glacier Nationwide Park—mockingly, an initiative that secured federal funding for the safety and preservation of public lands, of which the Trump administration has seemingly been doing the alternative to this point in 2025.
The protest’s attendees held indicators, chanted, and waved at vacationers outdoors the park’s gates. Consisting of former and present personnel, together with watchdog teams, the protesters say the monetary cuts imply workers cannot keep park services, with some additionally claiming insufficient infrastructure and an absence of workers depart them unable to reply to emergencies.
Granted, guests might not discover a lot distinction at Glacier (though they have been noticing Glacier’s most frustrating pain point in recent weeks—traffic and illegal parking, which some say is not being correctly managed because of overburdened park rangers). Nonetheless, the image behind the scenes is allegedly difficult sufficient to carry protesters out in droves to picket the park’s entrance gates.
“It’s like strolling down a Hollywood film set the place the entrance seems to be nice however there’s nothing behind it,” Glacier program supervisor with the Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation, Sarah Lundstrum mentioned, as reported by The Guardian.
In the meantime, others famous the park’s deterioration, stating it is in want of funding because of being “cherished to demise”. Longtime park worker, Jan Metzmaker, a longtime park worker who was additionally on Glacier’s first all-women path crew within the seventies, mentioned, as reported by The Guardian: “I can see the deterioration within the providers and within the services,” including, “They really want to place some cash into these, as a result of this place is loopy with folks. It’s being cherished to demise. However there’s no method that they will do the upkeep and all of the issues that must be completed within the park now.”
One of many protest’s organizers, Suzanne Hindler, added that demonstrators had opted to carry the occasion outdoors the park’s grounds with a view to keep away from including extra to the park’s already-overwhelmed workers amid the height vacationer season.
“We’re supporting the park, however drawing consideration to the very fact our policymakers are grandstanding in a nationwide park the place behind the scenes they’ve gutted workers and gutted funding,” Suzanne mentioned.
Elevated visits to Glacier correspond to the staffers’ considerations, as extra guests amid workers shortages have the potential to translate to decreased security.
The Protests Got here As Glacier Nationwide Park Is Seeing File Visitation
NPS visitation figures present a document 331.9 million folks visited U.S. nationwide parks in 2024, with Glacier Nationwide Park experiencing a 7.5% enhance in visits in 2025 in comparison with final 12 months, per Glacier National Park visitor data—all whereas now working with 1 / 4 of its workforce gone. Certainly, hiring freezes, terminations, buyouts, and early retirement provides have led to the lack of nearly 25% of everlasting NPS workers, together with a seasonal hiring lag of practically 8,000 positions.
Additional workers cuts are additionally reportedly on the horizon, although they’re up within the air amid courtroom proceedings, based on the Nationwide Parks Traveler.
That 25% hole in personnel means workers and volunteers in parks like Glacier are actually being compelled to do greater than ever, however with fewer assets—stretching groups and placing staff and guests in danger.
Glacier Nationwide Park Employees Are Doing Extra With Much less Assets—Sparking Security Considerations
Elevated visits and cuts to Glacier Nationwide Park’s workers are, based on protesters, risking worker and customer security, significantly since workers are having to work greater than ever earlier than. Staffers declare that the remaining workforce is doing “twice the job they used to,” working extra with fewer assets, as The Guardian reported.
Regulation enforcement officers are overlaying twice the realm, upkeep groups face duties they don’t seem to be educated for, and operators outdoors the park, akin to Glacier Guides and Montana Raft, are reportedly cleansing bogs and emptying trash at river accesses—the varieties of jobs that might usually be carried out by Nationwide Park Service workers.
Would-be jobs in Glacier Nationwide Park which might be nonetheless vacant span a large number of roles, impacting all areas of the park, together with:
- Emergency providers
- Hearth positions
- Chief rangers
- Mechanics
- Plumbers
- Electricians
- IT roles
- Wildlife scientists
- Environmental evaluation posts
Notably, an nameless present park worker who spoke to The Guardian mentioned there isn’t any longer sufficient workers to soundly reply to emergencies, that “that the park hasn’t had any massive occasions this 12 months” by sheer luck and that “It’s solely a matter of time till there’s an occasion we are able to’t reply to appropriately and there’s a mass failure of a system.”
The Guardian additionally reported that Glacier Nationwide Park now makes use of Starlink following the federal authorities’s cancellation of all nationwide parks’ web contracts this 12 months as a part of the funding cuts. However some staff declare it is unreliable and infrequently fails to attach park dispatch and 911 calls, which may additional threat customer and workers security in an emergency. Moreover, just one IT particular person is reportedly left to deal with technical points within the large park spanning the Continental Divide—a location with no cell service, frequent misplaced and injured hikers, and wildlife encounters, together with grizzly bears.
The proposed finances consists of a 33% minimize to the Division of the Inside and a 36% minimize to the Nationwide Park Service—a proposal that prompted Phil Francis, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, to concern the next statement:
“If enacted, this finances could be the biggest minimize ever to the Nationwide Park Service and exacerbate an already deeply problematic and harmful state of affairs at our nation’s parks. This might be the worst case state of affairs.” He continued, including, “This finances would have devastating impacts on our Nationwide Parks and public lands and dramatically affect the general public’s means to soundly get pleasure from our Nationwide Parks. Congress ought to reject this finances and totally fund our Nationwide Parks.”
Though a new bill recently took aim at the administration’s plan to slash NPS funding, it is not totally clear but what the results could also be. Nonetheless, all of those points, stemming from federal cuts and lowered staffing, coupled with document visits, have left some previous and current park workers, in addition to the general public, believing there’s an ulterior motive behind the Trump administration’s cuts at a time when the Nationwide Park Service wants funds and workers probably the most amid record-breaking visitation at in style parks like Glacier: a setup for failure. However why do some imagine the federal government would purposely set the park as much as fail?
Some NPS Workers Consider The Administration Is Setting The Park Up For Failure
Based on The Guardian’s report, a neighborhood lady who requested to not be recognized is a volunteer with the Glacier Nationwide Park Affiliation. Attending the rally, she mentioned they “do restoration, portray, backcountry patrol, customer middle, automobile reservations,” including that, “We need to do issues, however sadly, we don’t have sufficient supervisors—rangers—to have volunteers.” The sentiment there may be that the workers shortages and thus volunteer shortfalls as properly really feel intentional. “It looks like the federal government is setting us as much as fail,” the Glacier worker mentioned, per The Guardian.
“Hollowing out staffing, reducing budgets, altering priorities – all of that very a lot lends itself to the concept of primarily inflicting these companies to fail at assembly their mandates, and that may result in the decision for privatization,” Lundstrum mentioned, as reported by The Guardian. “As a result of if the federal government can’t handle that land, then clearly anyone else ought to, proper? In paperwork like Venture 2025, there are requires the privatization of land, or the selloff of land,” she added.
Some former and present NPS workers, in addition to specialists, are involved that the cuts outlined within the Trump administration’s finances proposal may result in the closure of as much as 350 NPS models, which some allege is a deliberate try to sabotage nationwide parks like Glacier and use their failure as an excuse to promote their public lands for revenue. The sale of public lands to pay for the “One Big Beautiful Bill” has been on the cards, a abstract of which is printed under.
Abstract Of The “One Massive Stunning Invoice” Public Land Gross sales
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Acreage Open For Potential Sale: |
3.29 Million |
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Acreage Eligible For Sale: |
258 |
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Alleged Revenue For The U.S. Authorities: |
$10 Billion |
The consideration of auctioning off public lands, which can embody nationwide park land, was ruled out of the reconciliation bill by the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, a number of weeks in the past, who mentioned it could violate the chamber’s guidelines.
Nonetheless, the battle for a lot of NPS parks like Glacier goes on, from Florida park sites now opening only once a month because of an absence of workers and Crater Lake operating with half its employees to Acadia National Park’s workforce shortage leaving passes unchecked and desks empty. Solely time will inform how lengthy the Nationwide Park Service and in style parks like Glacier will proceed to deal with their staffing and funding shakeups and record-breaking leisure visits by the general public.
On the very least, extra protests just like the rally at Glacier Nationwide Park on Wednesday wouldn’t be too shocking given how passionate many present and former park workers, volunteers, and park lovers really feel about these long-term points.
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