Lost Jobs, Broken Hearts and Harms to National Parks

After feeling anger, rage and other emotions since receiving a termination email Feb. 14, Angela Moxley said she felt mostly numb as she turned in her computer, office key and laundered uniforms to her former employer this week.

“For anyone who has ever earned the honor to wear the green and gray, it represents often years of dedication, setbacks, and toil at low wages in order to prove that you have the chops to work at the National Park Service,” she shared in a LinkedIn post.

A botanist at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Moxley was among the more than 1,000 National Park Service employees terminated on Valentine’s Day by the Trump administration. She and other staff said they received an email saying they were being fired due to performance, despite having positive performance appraisals. Moxley had just 10 days left in her yearlong probationary period as a new hire.

Carrie Schmitt, who worked as a biological science technician at Catoctin Mountain Park, was about nine months into her position. She said she was thrilled to have landed a full-time role with the Park Service after completing internships at Great Smoky Mountains National Park through nonprofit partners. To wear the green and grey uniform “meant everything,” she said.

“I’m sad, angry, but most of all disappointed that my dream of being a Park Ranger is over for the time being,” Schmitt posted on LinkedIn about the firing.

Moxley and Schmitt are not alone. Many terminated staff have spoken out on social media, some widely circulated, and to the news media to decry the firings and the loss of their dream jobs — but also the consequences for parks: loss of wildlife and resource protection; uncleaned bathrooms; lack of rangers to provide education, fight wildfires and keep visitors safe; fewer scientists to conduct research; and potential damage to the ecosystems and historical resources that make these park sites worth protecting in the first place.

In a phone interview, Moxley said she had to walk away from a year’s worth of research and work on wetland restoration, invasive plant documentation and funding efforts to save Harper Ferry’s remaining hemlock trees from a devastating invasive insect called a woolly adelgid.

Adding that she speaks on behalf of herself and not Harpers Ferry or the National Park Service, Moxley said parks — large and small — have behind-the-scenes staff who work to protect natural habitats, historic structures and museum objects and exhibits.

Many terminated staff have spoken out to decry the firings and the consequences for parks: loss of wildlife and resource protection; uncleaned bathrooms; lack of rangers to provide education, fight wildfires and keep visitors safe; fewer scientists to conduct research; and potential damage to the ecosystems and historical resources.

“Visitors don’t usually encounter us, but without us, there would not be sites to enjoy,” Moxley said. “Without staff, the National Park Service will be unable to carry out its 100+ year mission to leave the parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. This is a mission my colleagues and I take seriously.”

For Dulce Naime, former community planner for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, the “abruptness and lack of adherence to standard dismissal procedures were unsettling.”

After losing her job, she posted the following challenge on LinkedIn: “To my friends who may not grasp what is at stake here and think this massive layoff won’t affect you, I suggest this exercise: When you stand beneath the beautiful cherry trees at the National Mall this spring, take a moment to appreciate the lovely and safe park surrounding you… .”

Government employees, she continued, work tirelessly to protect memorials, collect trash and ensure sidewalks are safe and accessible. “Maintenance and improvements don’t happen overnight or by chance; everything requires devoted public servants,” she said in her post.

Schmitt explained in a phone interview that the park planned to have her lead an eight-week youth program with high schoolers this summer clearing trails — now a lost opportunity for her to help cultivate the next generation of park advocates.

Schmitt, Naime and Moxley all granted NPCA permission to share their social media comments.

Consequences to be felt ‘for years’

Staff shortfalls from the Feb. 14 terminations, as well as the administration’s hiring freeze, buyout offers and rescinded job offers in recent weeks, are expected to leave parks understaffed, facing tough decisions about operating hours, public safety and resource protection just as visitors are planning their spring break and summer vacations to national parks.

“Fewer staff means shorter visitor center hours, delayed openings and closed campgrounds,″ NPCA’s Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs, told The Associated Press in one of many news interviews she gave this week. She also spoke to The New York Times, CNN and other major outlets.

With the Park Service already overwhelmed by budget cuts and increased visitation, Brengel told AP that the Trump administration’s actions are pushing the Park Service to the breaking point “and the consequences will be felt in our parks for years.”

At Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most-visited park in the U.S., “any kind of shortfall in staff is going to directly impact the visitor experience,” NPCA’s Southern Appalachian Director Jeff Hunter told local TV station WBIR. “But also, these parks contain our shared heritage — our cultural and natural heritage — and those resources need to be protected by park rangers.”

Cutting staff like this “makes no sense,” according to John Garder, NPCA’s senior director of budget and appropriations. “It makes no sense for local economies, it makes no sense for the people who care for these places, it makes no sense for the well-being of our most treasured in this country,” he said in a new NPCA video.

In 2023, national parks contributed $55.6 billion to the national economy and supported 415,000 jobs in local communities. The National Park Service makes up less than one-fifteenth of 1 percent of the federal budget but delivers a $15 boost to the nation’s economy for every dollar invested. The Park Service’s most recently reported data shows 325.5 million visitors spent $26.4 billion in communities near national parks.

Brengel has said that economic impact could suffer if people don’t have a positive experience while visiting parks during staff shortfalls.

NPCA calls for 1,000 jobs to be restored

Parks have already been understaffed for years, and the recent decisions to severely reduce the workforce impact parks even more. Since 2010, staffing to operate national parks has declined by 20% and during the same time there’s been a 16% increase in visitation.

NPCA is calling for the more than 1,000 positions to be restored and to halt any additional staff cuts to avoid insufficient staffing across the National Park Service. NPCA encourages park advocates to call their members of Congress and urge them to stand up for park staff and have Interior Secretary Doug Burgum roll back the job cuts.

Cutting staff “makes no sense for local economies, it makes no sense for the people who care for these places, it makes no sense for the well-being of our most treasured in this country.”

Parks faced a serious staffing issue during a 2019 government shutdown, when the first Trump administration said parks should remain partially open with skeleton crews, and parks and visitors suffered. In a statement to Congress, NPCA shared that fees could not be collected, trash overflowed and people behaved badly — vandalism, carelessly parked cars, camping in non-designated areas and the cutting down of Joshua Trees. Visitors were put at risk by human waste in inappropriate areas, delayed emergency response times, and inadequate preventative search and rescue due to a lack of staffing, according to the statement.

In light of recent firings, some Park Service staff are consulting lawyers or planning a class action lawsuit. But their possible recourse is unclear.

As Moxley weighs any next steps, she said she’s concerned not only for herself but for others whose terminations might follow if federal workforce reductions within the Department of the Interior continue.

“There’s a widespread belief this is the first wave,” she said.