The Future Of America's National Parks
1A
NPR
4.4 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
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Summary
If you were, and plan to visit any National Parks this year though, staff cuts might mean a different kind of experience.
At the direction of Elon Musk's DOGE entity, the Department of the Interior fired around 1,000 probationary National Park Service employees in February.
That has current and former NPS employees feeling pessimistic about the future.
We discuss how these cuts will impact the future of America's National Parks.
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Transcript
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| 0:31.0 | People visited U.S. National Park sites a record 331 million times last year. Were you one of them? |
| 0:36.9 | If you're planning to visit any national parks this year, though, staff cuts might mean a different kind of experience. The Department of the Interior |
| 0:38.6 | fired around 1,000 probationary National Park Service employees in February. These cuts were led by |
| 0:44.9 | Elon Musk, who effectively oversees the entity Doge. Last month, a court order said those workers |
| 0:50.3 | should be rehired, but it's unclear how many employees return to work. We heard from one of you |
| 0:55.6 | about what it means to be a park ranger. I decided to become a national park ranger when I was seven. |
| 1:00.5 | I retired at the end of 2022 after 36 years of service to the parks and the people that own them, |
| 1:06.1 | the American people. I'm glad I left when I did because the chaos and stress that my friends and former |
| 1:12.5 | co-workers are experiencing with every email notification, ding, is outrageous. Nobody joins the |
| 1:19.4 | National Park Service to get rich. The old adage is that we get paid in Sunsets. That was far from |
| 1:25.1 | true. I got paid a fair wage for work that I absolutely loved, |
| 1:29.5 | and I often worked late into the evening for no additional pay, to get ready for a family |
| 1:34.6 | event, to swear in junior rangers, or to prepare for a citizenship ceremony. The 20,000 employees |
| 1:41.0 | of the National Park Service protect and care for this nation's most special places. |
| 1:46.1 | That includes not only the Yellowstones and Grand Canyons, but also places like the Statue of Liberty, |
| 1:51.9 | Independence Hall, and the White House. Thanks for the message. So how will these cuts affect |
| 1:56.8 | American public lands and their future? After the break, we hear from Sam Peterson. He was one of the |
| 2:02.5 | probationary employees fired in February. Sam was a park ranger at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation |
| 2:08.3 | Area in Washington. He joins us after the break to talk about his work. I'm Jen White. You're listening to |
... |
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