Latest news with #NationalParksConservationAssn.
Los Angeles Times
02-06-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Trump policies affect travel around California and the U.S.
In the wake of multiple plane crashes, and amid erratic federal polices and denials and detentions at border crossings, summer travel in the U.S. is in an uneasy state. The Golden State is seeing a decline in tourism as international visits are expected to drop 9.2% throughout the year, with international spending anticipated to drop 4.2%, according to a forecast published last month by state tourism organization Visit California and Tourism Economics. Earlier this spring, the desert towns of Coachella Valley — a favorite destination for Canadian snowbirds — braced for a major financial blow as residents of the Great White North canceled flights, ditched hotel and Airbnb reservations and put their stateside second homes up for sale, citing President Trump's aggression toward Canada. Now that summer is almost here, my colleague Michael Wilner breaks down some of the travel disruptions that have given U.S. officials and industry experts pause, concerned with the economic consequences of a slower summer season. National park cuts could affect visitor experiences At the start of the year, thousands of seasonal park workers were told they wouldn't be hired in the spring. After public outcry, Trump ditched the effort a month later. But more than 700 park service employees did accept buyouts, leaving fewer workers to collect entrance fees, clean toilets or help with search-and-rescue efforts. Cassidy Jones, senior visitation program manager at the National Parks Conservation Assn., told Michael that cuts to the parks are tangible and will directly affect visitors' experience over the coming months, despite efforts by leadership at the Department of the Interior to paper over the cracks. 'There may be fewer entrance gates open,' Jones said. 'People should plan ahead and remember to be helpful park visitors. Take the optional shuttle. Come with supplies with you, as some facilities may be closed at hours you're not expecting, because they don't have the staff to keep them open. Toilets may not be unwinterized yet if they're in cold places.' In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order directing that national parks be 'open and accessible' through the summer season, as fears grew that staffing cuts implemented by the administration could become apparent. Still, the White House cuts and hiring freezes severely disrupted a seasonal hiring and training cadence for park rangers that usually begins around Christmas, Jones said. Travelers should expect flight disruptions The Department of Government Efficiency under Trump eliminated hundreds of positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, including at the National Weather Service, and is proposing a 25% cut in the agency's budget. As a result, flight delays will be felt by travelers sooner rather than later, said Rick Spinrad, who served as administrator of NOAA under President Biden. 'In the short term, this summer, when people are doing longer traveling, we may see a degradation of services,' Spinrad said. 'You may see more delayed flights, more weather-impacted flights.' But Spinrad's concern is that the cuts to NOAA soon will be felt more deeply at the local level, among the emergency managers, local transportation departments and public health centers that count on reliable forecasts to map out their work. All is not lost, however. The state can't rely on welcoming people from other states and countries right now, but as Visit California notes, the Golden State's 40 million residents are also important contributors to the state's tourism economy. Now is the perfect time for Californians to explore their own backyard and travel in state. Today's great photo is from Times photojournalism intern Luke Johnson, who was at Angel Stadium for a Savannah Bananas game for which tickets cost more than a Dodgers-Yankees rematch. Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees
Following a loud public outcry about job cuts at the National Park Service — and a relentless media campaign from outdoors enthusiasts across the country — it looks like the Trump administration has reconsidered. A plan to eliminate thousands of seasonal workers at the beloved federal agency appears to have been reversed. Last month, prospective seasonal employees — the people who collect the entrance fees, clean the trails and restrooms and help rescue injured hikers — received emails saying their job offers for the 2025 season had been rescinded. This week, a memo sent from the Department of Interior to park service officials said the agency could hire 7,700 seasonal employees this year, up from the roughly 6,300 who have been hired in recent years. If fully implemented, that would be a notable exception to the government-wide hiring freeze imposed when the Trump administration clamped down on the federal bureaucracy, threatening to eliminate entire agencies, offering "deferred resignation" to almost all federal workers and firing tens of thousands of career employees. The reprieve for the parks is 'definitely a win,' said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Assn., which obtained a copy of the memo that was shared with The Times. And it's a testament to 'advocates, park rangers and everyone else who has been shouting from the mountaintop that we need these positions restored,' Brengel said. The memo addressed only temporary seasonal employees. It said nothing about the roughly 1,000 members of the National Park Service's permanent workforce who were fired Friday. They were included in the administration's multiagency purge of tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, mostly people in the first couple of years of their careers who have fewer job protections than more seasoned employees. Probationary employees represent about 5% of full-time staff at the park service. 'We need to keep pushing until we restore all of the positions for the park service, and get an exemption from the park service in general,' Brengel said. Park service officials did not respond to a request for comment. Following the firings Friday, which some have dubbed the 'Valentine's Day massacre,' parks employees and outdoors enthusiasts took to social media, called their congressional representatives and buttonholed anyone who would listen in a coordinated campaign to restore jobs at what is arguably the federal government's most popular agency. America's national parks — including Yosemite, Joshua Tree and the Grand Canyon — attracted more than 320 million visitors in 2023, and have been the settings for countless family vacations for generations of Americans. Read more: As Trump cuts federal jobs, even national parks are on the chopping block After he was fired on Feb. 14, Yosemite maintenance worker Olek Chmura went on Instagram to ask whether he and his modestly paid colleagues were really an example of the kind of wasteful spending Trump and his appointed efficiency expert, Elon Musk, claim they are trying to eliminate. 'I make just over $40,000 a year; scrape s— off toilets with a putty knife nearly every day,' Chmura wrote. 'Somehow, I'm the target.' Like so many other social media cris de coeur, Chmura figured his would get a thumbs-up from a few sympathetic friends and then get lost in the vast sea of online angst. He was wrong. By early this week, he had become an unexpected poster child and de facto spokesman for the outrage felt by millions of people, from both sides of the aisle, who treasure America's parks. He was suddenly juggling interview requests from seemingly every media organization he'd ever heard of, and a few he probably hadn't. Fox, NBC, local newspapers, even SkyNews from Britain. A photogenic patch of Yosemite Valley, with the soaring rock face of El Capitan in the background, had become his personal TV studio. Reached Wednesday afternoon, he said he'd already done several interviews that day. 'I'm unemployed,' he joked, 'and this is, like, the busiest day of my life.' Originally from Cleveland, Chmura, 28, caught the rock-climbing bug and made a pilgrimage to classic crags across the U.S., saving the best for last: Yosemite. 'This is where I want to live, you know. This is where I want to grow old, and this is kind of like the place I'll spend the rest of my life,' Chmura said. Like so many self-described 'dirt bag' climbers in Yosemite, he spent a couple of years doing odd jobs to make ends meet before he got hired by the park service. It meant scraping toilets, picking up used diapers and 'squeegee-ing urine' from bathroom floors, he said. But it was still pretty much the holy grail of jobs for a passionate climber. 'It was, quite literally, a dream come true,' Chmura said. So, when the Trump administration arrived with its slash-and-burn crusade against the federal workforce, he was stunned and heartbroken to be swept up in it. 'I just really don't understand why they're attacking working-class Americans who never took these jobs to get rich,' he said. 'It's just extremely confusing. Why us?' Conservative friends from Ohio, who have seen him on Instagram and TV, have reached out and said, 'This is not what I voted for, this is ... insane,' Chmura said. Because he was a probationary full-time employee, Chmura's job is not among those being restored. But he holds out hope that pressure from the public, and elected representatives, might turn the tide in his favor, too. Meanwhile, for parks supervisors, the uncertainty continues. Two who asked for anonymity because they fear retaliation said they had received permission to start rehiring seasonal employees. They said they are trying to act fast, because nobody knows when the guidance from the administration might suddenly change again. "Human resource officers in federal agencies, and particularly the parks, probably have the worst job in America right now," said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "They're dealing with unprecedented levels of chaos." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees
Following a loud public outcry about job cuts at the National Parks Service — and a relentless media campaign from outdoors enthusiasts across the country — it looks like the Trump administration has blinked. A plan to eliminate thousands of seasonal workers at America's most beloved federal agency appears to have been reversed. Last month, prospective seasonal employees — the people who collect the entrance fees, clean the trails and restrooms and help rescue injured hikers — received emails saying their job offers for the 2025 season had been rescinded. This week, a memo sent from the Department of Interior to parks service officials said the agency could hire 7,700 seasonal employees this year, up from the roughly 6,300 who have been hired in recent years. If fully implemented, that would be a notable exception to the government-wide hiring freeze imposed when the Trump administration essentially declared war on the federal bureaucracy, threatening to eliminate entire agencies, offering 'deferred resignation' to almost all federal workers and outright firing tens of thousands of career employees. The reprieve for the parks is 'definitely a win,' said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Assn., which obtained a copy of the memo that was shared with The Times. And it's a testament to 'advocates, park rangers and everyone else who has been shouting from the mountaintop that we need these positions restored,' Brengel said. The memo only addressed temporary seasonal employees. It said nothing about the roughly 1,000 members of the National Park Service's permanent workforce who were fired last Friday. They were included in the administration's multi-agency purge of tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, mostly people in the first couple of years of their careers who have fewer job protections than more seasoned employees. Probationary employees represent about 5% of full-time staff at the park service. 'We need to keep pushing until we restore all of the positions for the park service, and get an exemption from the park service in general,' Brengel said. Park service officials did not respond to a request for comment. Following the firings last Friday, which some have dubbed the 'Valentine's Day massacre,' parks employees and outdoors enthusiasts took to social media, called their congressional representatives and buttonholed anyone who would listen in a coordinated campaign to restore jobs at what is, arguably, the federal government's most popular agency. America's national parks — including Yosemite, Joshua Tree and the Grand Canyon — attracted more than 320 million visitors in 2023, and have been the settings for countless family vacations for generations of Americans. After he was fired on February 14, Yosemite maintenance worker Olek Chmura went on Instagram to ask if he and his modestly paid colleagues were really an example of the kind of wasteful spending Trump and his appointed efficiency expert, Elon Musk, claim they are trying to eliminate. 'I make just over $40,000 a year; scrape s—- off toilets with a putty knife nearly every day,' Chmura wrote. 'Somehow, I'm the target.' Like so many other social media cris de coeur, Chmura figured his would get a thumbs up from a few sympathetic friends and then get lost in the vast sea of online angst. He was wrong. By early this week, he had become an unexpected poster child and de facto spokesman for the outrage felt by millions of people, from both sides of the aisle, who treasure America's parks. He was suddenly juggling interview requests from seemingly every media organization he'd ever heard of, and a few he probably hadn't. Fox, NBC, local newspapers, even SkyNews from Britain. A photogenic patch of Yosemite Valley, with the soaring rock face of El Capitan in the background, had become his personal TV studio. Reached Wednesday afternoon, he said he'd already done several interviews that day. 'I'm unemployed,' he joked, 'and this is, like, the busiest day of my life.' Originally from Cleveland, Chmura, 28, caught the rock-climbing bug and made a pilgrimage to classic crags across the U.S, saving the best for last: Yosemite. 'This is where I want to live, you know. This is where I want to grow old, and this is kind of like the place I'll spend the rest of my life,' Chmura said. Like so many self-described 'dirt bag' climbers in Yosemite, he spent a couple of years doing odd jobs to make ends meet before he got hired by the parks service. It meant scraping toilets, picking up used diapers and 'squeegee-ing urine' from bathroom floors, he said. But it was still pretty much the holy grail of jobs for a passionate climber. 'It was, quite literally, a dream come true,' Chmura said. So, when the Trump administration arrived with its almost gleeful slash-and-burn crusade against the federal workforce, he was stunned and heartbroken to be swept up in it. 'I just really don't understand why they're attacking working-class Americans who never took these jobs to get rich,' he said. 'It's just extremely confusing, why us?' Conservative friends from Ohio, who have seen him on Instagram and TV, have reached out and said, 'This is not what I voted for, this is [expletive] insane,' Chmura said. Because he was a probationary full-time employee, Chmura's job is not among those being restored. But he holds out hope that pressure from the public, and elected representatives, might turn the tide in his favor, too. Meanwhile, for parks supervisors, the uncertainty continues. Two who asked for anonymity because they fear retaliation, said they had received permission to start re-hiring seasonal employees. They said they are trying to act fast, because nobody knows when the guidance from the administration might suddenly change again. 'Human resource officers in federal agencies, and particularly the parks, probably have the worst job in America right now,' said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. 'They're dealing with unprecedented levels of chaos.'
