Federal hiring freeze could compromise Blue Ridge Parkway 'basic visitor experience,' NPS superintendent says

USA Today

13-02-2025

The federal hiring freeze ordered by President Donald Trump could impact "basic visitor experience" along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the parkway superintendent told the Citizen Times
Repairs from Tropical Storm Helene are expected to cost "north of $1 billion"
Some closed sections of the parkway may open "starting late late summer, potentially early fall," but others may take more time to reopen
ASHEVILLE - As the Blue Ridge Parkway continues to slowly reopen and rebuild after facing "devastation" from Tropical Storm Helene, the ongoing federal hiring freeze could compromise the "basic visitor experience" of the iconic park connected to the region's economic growth, the parkway's superintendent told the Citizen Times.
After taking office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on all federal hiring alongside buyout offers for more than 2 million federal employees. While the legality of the buyouts has been questioned by labor unions, more than 60,000 federal workers have already accepted the offer.
On Feb. 12, a federal judge in Massachusetts restored the buyouts for federal employees, delivering a setback to unions that oppose a central piece of Trump's efforts to drastically cut the federal workforce. The length of the hiring freeze is unclear.
The hiring freeze could compromise some basic services on the parkway that seasonal hires provide, including restroom cleaning, removing fallen trees, staffing visitors centers and filling potholes while visitation is at its highest, parkway superintendent Tracy Swartout told the Citizen Times Feb. 12. The parkway's busiest months are typically in the summer and fall.
The parkway is among one of the most visited national park units in the nation, sprawling 469 miles between Virginia and North Carolina. In 2023, the Blue Ridge Parkway, with hundreds of miles of winding roads cutting through Virginia and North Carolina, was visited by 16.7 million people and brought in $1.4 billion in local visitor spending.
"People drive through and that takes a certain amount of support and staffing. Whether it's mowing the road or keeping the roads clear of debris when trees fall — which happens all the time on the parkway — to just ensuring that potholes are filled when they need to be filled," Swartout said.
"All those things are quintessentially the park experience that the taxpayers expect and that our visitors from all over the world expect. Those are the things that could be compromised if we aren't able to staff fully. There is a direct impact between our staffing levels and our ability to provide what I would call the very basic visitor experience."
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In any given year, roughly 120 seasonal hires nearly double the staff of the parkway, Swartout said. Currently, the parkway employs around 150 full time staff — 75 fewer staff than they had in the early 2000s, she said. While hires are in a "hold pattern," the hope is that the freeze would be lifted by the time peak leaf season arrives, which is October, the parkway's busiest month, she said.
"I fully expect us to — at some point — be able to hire the seasonals, but the timing of that could impact when things open or whether or not we can staff something," Swartout told the Citizen Times.
"We need folks to be able to clean the toilets and the campgrounds, to mow at these intersections and to take care of everything for 16.7 million visitors," she said.
The National Park Service reiterated that it is continuing to follow the hiring freeze executive order in a Feb. 12 statement to the Citizen Times.
"The National Park Service is implementing President Donald J. Trump's Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce. The order does allow for exemptions for the hiring of certain positions. The NPS is assessing our most critical staffing needs for park operations for the coming season and is working to hire key positions. The NPS is committed to protecting public lands, infrastructure, and communities while ensuring public access," a NPS spokesperson told the Citizen Times.
Swartout spoke at an event Feb. 12 coordinated by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority on the importance of local and regional partners in WNC's recovery after Helene. She advocated for the parkway as being "incredibly important" to the communities across North Carolina and Virginia. Economic data indicates national parks are critical to North Carolina's growth.
The 10 national parks in North Carolina generate a cumulative economic impact of $4.1 billion and produce more than 300 million visitors a year, according to data from the park service. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park — another park that has over 500,000 acres split between WNC and eastern Tennessee — has the highest economic output than any other national park in the country and also stands to be affected by the federal hiring freeze, the Citizen Times reported Feb. 11.
On Feb. 10, former Smokies and parkway superintendent Phil Francis told the Citizen Times that reduced staffing impacts morale. Francis now serves as chair of the executive committee for the nonprofit Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, an advocacy group.
'When you have increase in visitation and decline in number of facilities open and taking care of restrooms and other resources, it really weighs on the people who do these jobs,' Francis said.
In a Feb. 7 letter sent to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a group of more than 20 Democratic and Independent lawmakers pressed Burgum to reissue seasonal employment offers and rescind buyouts within NPS, warning the moves could close campgrounds, shutter visitor centers and 'devastate local 'gateway' communities where parks generate significant economic activity — from hotels to restaurants to stores to outfitters.'
'Americans showing up to national parks this summer and for years to come don't deserve to have their vacations ruined by a completely preventable — and completely irresponsible — staffing shortage,' the lawmakers wrote.
NPS faces high cost to rebuild parkway
Though the National Park Service continues to face a hiring freeze, repairs along the Blue Ridge Parkway have continued along the areas that were impacted by Helene. In total, 57 landslides were reported along the parkway in North Carolina, with nine of those slides occurring within one mile of milepost 319, near the overlook of the North Toe River Valley and the Chestoa View Parking Area, Swartout said.
Already, over 300 miles of the parkway have reopened, but major sections between Asheville north toward Grandfather Mountain remain closed. The cost to repair damages from Helene is "north of $1 billion" and "south of $2 billion," Swartout said, noting that the full breadth of damages have still not been evaluated. The National Park Service already received $2.3 billion in supplemental disaster recovery funding from Congress, according to a December news release from Sen. Thom Tillis. Nearly $1.7 billion would be set to rebuild the parkway, his office said at the time.
Major sections of the parkway are still closed, but others, like the section near Grandfather Mountain including the Linn Cove Viaduct, are open if weather is clear. Some new sections may open "starting late late summer, potentially early fall," as the park service works on clearing "critical" pathways to sections south of Asheville around Mount Pisgah and north of Asheville around Craggy Gardens and Mount Mitchell.
Development in some areas, like the Linville Falls Visitor Center, may have to be rethought to reconsider what resilience after Helene looks like. Parts of the road flooded near Linville Falls, where the floodwaters "lifted up and moved" sections of the parkway, Swartout said. The visitor center was a total loss.
"We need to be thinking about how we engineer the architecture there," she continued.
Recovery work will be active for "probably the better part of a decade," Swartout said while speaking at the event. She warned that visitors should not be walking or trying to drive on closed sections of the parkway, but also reinforced one thing: the parkway will return in full form.
"The entire parkway will reopen," Swartout said.
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Helene Recovery Reporter Jacob Biba contributed to this report.
Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [e-mail]. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.