Have a trip to a California national park planned? What to know as staff changes (2025)

National parks in California are entering their busiest season, and more than 12 million visitors could be in for a summer vacation riddled by uncertainty.

As the National Park Service scrambles to meet President Donald Trump administration’s back-and-forth directives, park officials and experts say the confusion could mean hours-long lines, overcrowding and increased safety risks.

The conflicting instructions have largely targeted staffing changes, among them:

• Trump’s administration fired roughly 1,000 newly hired National Park Service workers Feb. 14, weeks before the start of the busy summer season, McClatchy News previously reported.

• Later that week, the administration gave the National Park Service permission to fill seasonal positions that had been paused by the administration’s federal hiring freeze, NPR reported. The parks largely rely on seasonal staff to get through the busy summer season, and the freeze had delayed the hiring process, leaving many parks understaffed as the travel season got underway.

• Earlier in April, the Department of the Interior issued an order requiring national parks to stay open and accessible despite the staffing shortages — while simultaneously offering another round of buyouts to employees, SF GATE reported.

Some of the ripple effects of the administrative actions include scientists and other staff being reassigned to clean toilets, facility closures and fewer emergency responders available to help visitors in distress, park advocates told McClatchy News.

“I think visitors should be prepared,” Beth Pratt, the regional executive director of California for the National Wildlife Federation told McClatchy News in a phone interview. Pratt advocates for parks and public spaces around California.

The National Park Service told McClatchy News “available services will vary by park,” and visitors should check each park’s website for more information for planning.

Long lines, overcrowding

While one of the state’s most popular national parks grapples with how to handle a record number of visitors, advocates say it now has to do so without one of the most effective tools in its toolbox.

Last month, the White House put a stop to a reservation system at Yosemite National Park that would have spread the park’s more than 4 million visitors across set times to relieve congestion, Kati Schmidt, spokesperson for the National Park Conservation Association (NPCA), told McClatchy News in a phone interview.

“If you go to Yosemite this year, you’re going to have a presumably hourslong wait just to get through the park gate,” Schmidt said. “Then you drive down to Yosemite Valley and there’s no parking... Parks weren’t meant to be a free for all.”

Former Yosemite superintendent Don Neubacher told McClatchy News via email that “the lack of a reservation system will lead to an uncontrolled, stressful summer season full of frustrated visitors and overworked park staff.”

“Visitors should be aware that there will be miles-long lines at entrance gates and traffic jams at scenic viewpoints and major visitor sites such as Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls, and Inspirational Point,” he said. “Parking will be hard to find during peak hours, and getting an empty space will be even harder.”

Neal Desai, the NPCA’s pacific region director, said the reservation system was a reliable way of managing visits during peak travel months.

“Yosemite had a commonsense visitation plan, tested and refined over the last several years, ready to roll out before it was yanked back by the Trump administration,” Desai said in an emailed statement. “As the data shows, smart planning doesn’t mean fewer people, just a better experience for all.”

Other parks are also feeling the squeeze.

An alert on Pinnacles National Park’s website warns of potential parking limitations due to high crowds and limited park capacity.

A visitor’s center at Kings Canyon National Park also announced limited hours.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks previously announced canceled ranger programs and limited visitor center hours after the parks lost 11 staff members, including four rangers, in the staffing cuts, SF GATE reported.

“These parks are beyond carrying capacity, especially if you’re laying off staff. You set up this worst case scenario,” Pratt, the California parks advocate, said. “Even Disneyland has a carrying capacity.”

Fewer services and safety

The staff cuts have put the parks in a compromising position, especially when it comes to providing an enjoyable and safe experience for visitors, Neubacher told McClatchy News. Several parks, including Yosemite, are operating with virtually no leadership after the cuts and buyouts.

“With the lack of staffing after the chaotic cuts and hiring freezes, park staff will be unable to provide all the basic services necessary for public safety and an enjoyable and stress-free visit,” he said. “Trash will pile up, restrooms will be cleaned less regularly, and there will be fewer visitor services such as guided walks, information staff, and educational programs…. With budget restrictions and hiring concerns, the resource management, law enforcement, and senior leadership staff will be less than required and will not be able to respond adequately to manage critical resource projects, including visitor issues, search and rescue, emergency response, and visitor safety issues.”

In the wake of the cuts, many remaining parks workers have been reassigned from research or IT jobs to janitorial duty, Schmidt said.

The Trump administration’s $1 spending limit on government credit cards has hamstrung scientists’ ability to travel and conduct vital research in the field that helps conserve threatened species, she said.

And many of the law enforcement rangers pull double duty as first responders in the event of emergencies, Pratt said.

“Even if you’re not laying off search and rescue, there’s still going to be less resources on the ground if there’s rockfall or you slip on a trail,” she said. “It’s a wild space. Things can happen even if you do everything right.”

Park workers “take care of visitors in subtle but critical ways,” from making sure they have enough water to keeping them a safe distance from wildlife, senior vice president of government affairs at the NPCA told NPR.

“They also perform more overt acts of heroism, like performing CPR and rescuing overtaxed hikers from trails, an increasing concern after multiple summers of heat-related deaths in national parks,” the outlet reported.

That’s especially important in Death Valley National Park — the hottest place on earth. The park’s Furnace Creek area is particularly scorching.

That’s why it’s more important than ever for visitors to plan ahead, “research park activities, make reservations in advance if necessary, and be prepared for unexpected changes in plans while visiting,” said Abby Wines, spokesperson for the park.

It’s important for visitors to know that temperatures at the Furnace Creek Campground only drop to the high 90s just before dawn, and imperative that they prepare for the extreme weather with enough water, salty snacks, sunscreen and the right clothing, Wines said.

Ecosystems at risk

Pratt said she remembers seeing interpretive park rangers on the ground protecting the parks ever since she was a kid. They would explain how parks’ delicate ecosystems can be damaged by something as innocuous as walking through a meadow.

“Good luck finding an interpretive ranger if they’re having to clean bathrooms,” she said. “The bear that has to be put down because we didn’t have enough trash management in the park — that bear doesn’t get a do-over. Once a bear is killed or an endangered species goes extinct because of these policies, there’s no do-over. You don’t get those public lands and wildlife back.”

National parks were supposed to be “America’s best idea,” she said.

“The parks themselves…are our national heritage,” she said. “We’re squandering that.”

“I’ve been thinking of this summer as the illusion of the national parks experience,” Schmidt told McClatchy News. “You may go to Yosemite or Joshua Tree or Redwood and you may feel like nothing has changed. But behind the scenes we know that park scientists aren’t able to do their jobs anymore.”

As critical conservation work and research is put on hold, she said the repercussions will appear over time as threatened and endangered plant and wildlife species risk extinction.

“Visitors might not notice that the first or even second or third year,” she said. “But parks were created for the protection and conservation of these things so that future generations will be able to enjoy it…. We wouldn’t have herds of bison in Yellowstone or thriving Joshua Tree gardens without the people it took to do all that. It’s important work.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 12:50 PM.