DOGE doomsaying followed a report about just how extensive payroll cuts for the purportedly “understaffed and overwhelmed” National Park Service would be.
The ongoing work of the Department of Government Efficiency has made way for many to climb onto their personal soapbox to decry chipping away at the status quo. Now, according to an ex-staffer’s report to The Hill, efforts to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse include targeting a 30% cut in payroll for the National Park Service.
“Managers were asked to put together plans to eliminate 30 percent of payroll,” a former employee explained to the outlet, having taken responsibility for composing one of the plans.
The former Park Service employee suggested that the impact would most likely be felt soon by the termination of rangers and janitors and later on by the potential loss of conservation projects.
According to the DOGE website, NPS staffed nearly 17,700 employees with combined annual wages amounting to around $1.4 billion under the Interior Department. The average annual salary was over $80,000.
Work to comply with President Donald Trump’s aim at streamlining the federal government had already seen 2,300 positions at the Interior axed, including 1,000 with the Park Service where 700 employees were said to have opted for the resignation buyout offered by the White House.
“The National Park Service is in crisis, and things are only getting worse,” a statement from National Parks Conservation Association Senior Vice President Kristen Brengel read in February. “In a matter of weeks, 9% of Park Service staff have been lost to mass firings and resignations. And this is on top of hundreds of vacant positions that can’t be filled due to the ongoing hiring freeze. These indiscriminate cuts are neither strategic nor efficient; they are devastating.”
After lamenting upcoming vacation seasons that would be understaffed, Brengel went on, “These staffing cuts will put a major strain on an already understaffed and overwhelmed Park Service. And with hundreds of park staff taking the administration’s buyout offer, the Park Service will lose a wealth of expertise, experience and knowledge they will never get back.”
Her association similarly complained about the “Erasure of LGBTQ+ History from Park Service Website,” and the NPCA took umbrage with the current spending bill working through Congress that is said to include a $22 million cut to the Park Service’s maintenance budget and a $20 million cut for preservation funding.
Meanwhile, as the workforce reduction was said to include probationary employees that were already cut, and one federal agency has already been slashed to a solitary employee, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently said on X, “Our team at @Interior is working with DOGE to streamline government, eliminate waste, and upgrade our critical infrastructure. This includes reviewing every one of the 36,000 Department of the Interior Grants & Contracts for waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Likewise, Interior Department spokesperson J. Elizabeth Peace told The Hill, “We do not comment on specific personnel matters.”
“Under President Donald J. Trump’s leadership, the Department is working to right-size the federal workforce, cut bureaucratic waste, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently. By streamlining operations and reducing unnecessary positions, we are strengthening our ability to serve the public while making government more effective and accountable,” she went on. “We will continue working with the Department of Government Efficiency and other agencies to implement cost-saving measures that put taxpayers first while ensuring the responsible stewardship of America’s natural and cultural resources.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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