This summer, across beloved national parks around the country, skeleton crews fell down by the Trump administration’s federal workforce cuts – struggled to keep trash from piling up and hikers injured from falling backcountry hikers.
They were mostly successful, but it was a struggle.
Now, 40 former stewards have sent “urgent charms” to the White House as the disputed politicians in Washington, D.C. threaten to shut down the government next week and cut off federal employees if they don’t reach budget contracts.
If the government is closed, the national parks will be closed and you will be free to be free inside the gates.
Pointing to tension, the park has already endured ever since the new administration fired or bought out about 24% of its workforce.
If the park is open even without employees to manage employees, “these early issues from the summer season certainly erupt,” the Home Office secretary on Thursday. “It is reckless to minimize the park or partially open the park during closure with no-no staff, putting both visitors and the park’s resources at risk.”
Unlike many federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, national parks remain beloved shelters as once ambiguous and mundane daily ventures became flashpoints in the country’s toxic and polarized culture wars.
In 2024, Parks set an attendance record with over 331 million visitors. That’s almost half the number of people (136 million) who combined professional soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey games.
It’s not difficult to understand the appeal. Tired of arguments on cable news and social media feeds? Climb the Half Dome in Yosemite, or take a walk through the giant Sequoia trees, or camp under Joshua’s tree stars.
However, according to a retired superintendent, if the park is open no one around to keep them, that cleansing experience becomes awkward the moment the bathroom door opens.
In previous closures due to budget disputes or the Covid-19 pandemic, facilities within the park have deteriorated at an astonishing rate.
Unauthorized visitors left human feces in the river, graffiti on once-pristine cliffs, harassed wildlife, and left toilets looking like “crime scenes.”
“It’s scary how bad you can get when a place is abandoned with no one watching,” she said.
In an interview Thursday, Senate majority leaders said that despite the sharp division ahead of the deadline to pass Wednesday’s funding bill, it is still “avoidable.”
“I believe there’s always a way,” said the South Dakota Republican. “And I think there’s an off-ramp here, but at least at this point, I don’t think the negotiating position that Democrats are about to come out here will take you there.”
Thune said Democrats must “dial back.” He said this would soon extend health insurance subsidies and include a reversal of health insurance policies in a massive tax bill passed by Republicans over the summer. Without that, Thune said “probably we’re moving forward towards a shutdown.”
After closing in late 2018 and early 2019, the Death Valley Park Rangers found shit hills and what jokingly called “toilet paper flowers” scattered across desert floors.
At Joshua Tree, authorities discovered that about 24 miles of unauthorized new trails were carved on off-road vehicles, along with some of the park’s name-named trees, which fell.
With the absence of park staff, local climbers volunteered to keep toilet paper clean and stocked, and tried to convince the rough visitors to put out illegal fires and pick up trash.
Climber Rand Abbott told the Times in 2019, and he said, “70% of the people I’ve met are very rude.” “I threatened my life twice. I’m crazy now.”
It wasn’t just the unruly guests who were people moving in and staying at home.
Point Reyes National Seashore along the Marine County coast had to close the road to the popular Drakes Beach during its closure. The absence of humans created an ideal opportunity for around 100 elephant seals to set up colonies and take over beaches, parking and visitor centres.
The seal not only threw a full-fledged bacchanal where it was. As far as the eyes can see, the giant bulging beasts – the male could reach 16 feet long and weigh up to 7,000 pounds – was rolling through the sand and mating during the day.
A woman who could weigh up to a tonne was able to give birth to 40 new puppies. When the park reopened, the attacked officials were barely reliant on, but they opened public viewing areas at safe distances and sent employees (mainly known as “dottents”) to explain what was once going on on the calm coast.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
