As President Donald Trump continues to try to shrink the government through retirement, layoffs, and other budget-saving maneuvers, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service have eliminated thousands of positions.
According to a report from Reuters, last week, the Forest Service eliminated 3,400 recent hires, and the National Park Service cut 1,000.
Reuters noted that the terminations involved employees who were still in their probationary periods, which includes those hired less than a year ago.
The sites that will be affected by the cuts, which represent about 10% of the Forest Service workforce and about 5% of the National Park Service, include Yellowstone, Sequoia National Forest, the Appalachian Trail, and the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.
The report did note that the cuts excluded firefighters, law enforcement, certain meteorologists, and 5,000 seasonal workers.
“Allowing parks to hire seasonal staff is essential, but staffing cuts of this magnitude will have devastating consequences for parks and communities,” the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) president, Theresa Pierno, said in a statement.
The move comes as the nation’s national parks have seen an increase in visits over the last few years. In 2022, there were 13 million visits to national parks, compared to 2023, when there were 325 million.
The NPCA shared earlier this month that staffing levels were not keeping pace with the visits before the cuts and now may suffer further due to the elimination of new staff.
The senior vice president of government affairs for the group, Kristen Brengel, shared that the cuts could affect those traveling to the national parks. She says instead of gorgeous views, visitors will instead see “overflowing trash, uncleaned bathrooms, and fewer rangers to provide guidance.”
While both services have lost thousands of their new hires, the federal government as a whole has around 280,000 employees out of the 2.3 million-member civilian federal workforce still in the probation period, government data shared.