DOGE Fires Thousands of National Park Workers, Sparking Nationwide Protests and Raising Maintenance Concerns Ahead of Busy Summer Season

In the midst of the Trump administration carrying out mass terminations of federal employees, about 1,000 National Park Service employees who play integral roles in maintaining those parks have been fired, raising concerns among lawmakers and visitors.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headed by billionaire Elon Musk has spearheaded the elimination of thousands of federal jobs and laid off many federal employees since the Trump administration took office, including roughly 1,000 National Park Service employees, according to the Associated Press.

The terminations of these employees have sparked protests across the nation, especially within communities that rely on the traffic and business national parks bring to their region. On Monday, hundreds of protestors gathered outside of Rocky Mountain National Park to demonstrate against the recent federal layoffs, and protestors gathered at city hall in Flagstaff, Arizona, near Grand Canyon National Park, opposing the same developments, according to Forbes.

Despite the layoffs, NPS has announced the reinstitution of about 5,000 seasonal positions for workers added during the peak visitor season after initially dissolving the positions as part of a spending freeze last month, AP reported.

Legislators advocating on behalf of the parks as well as activists familiar with park operations have warned that many of the country's 428 parks will find themselves understaffed, forcing them to cut down hours of operation, making safety and protection systems within the parks less efficient and increasing the difficulty of conducting routine maintenance tasks.

"Fewer staff means shorter visitor center hours, delayed openings and closed campgrounds,″ said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group.

The decisions made by the Trump administration "are pushing an already overwhelmed Park Service to its breaking point," Brengel added. "And the consequences will be felt in our parks for years."

"They're basically knee-capping the very people who need to train seasonal" employees who work as park rangers, maintenance staff and trail managers, Brengel said in an interview. "It puts the park in an untenable position. You're going to hurt tourism.″

"There is nothing 'efficient' about indiscriminately firing thousands upon thousands of workers in red and blue states whose work is badly needed,'' said Sen. Patty Murray. D-Wash., vice chair of the Appropriations panel.

"Two billionaires who have zero concept of what the federal workforce does are breaking the American government — decimating essential services and leaving all of us worse off."