Did Doug Burgum Lie to Congress? The Data Doesn’t Lie
HELENA, MT – Yesterday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the House Natural Resources Committee that seasonal hiring is “going really well” and that he was happy to talk about staffing because “we’ve hired thousands and thousands of people into the National Park System.” The data tells the real story. Internal documents show Burgum’s Interior had roughly 4,200 seasonal employees on board as of early April, dramatically down from the same period two years ago.
“Doug Burgum looked members of Congress in the eye during repeated testimony and said hiring was going great. But the data tells a very different story,” said Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for Save Our Parks. “Burgum has shot his own department in the foot by intentionally gutting the infrastructure needed to hire critical seasonal park employees, systematically destroying Interior’s capacity to onboard and deploy the workers our parks and public lands depend on. Burgum owes Americans heading to their favorite national parks this summer an explanation, and he is obligated under the law to tell Congress the truth.”
Last year, Burgum promised Congress the National Park Service alone would hire 7,700 seasonal staff. The agency peaked at around 5,150, far short of his own target. And this year, the department is already tracking behind even that diminished pace. Internal emails show processing backlogs so severe that seasonal hires with offers in hand are being pushed to June. One Interior HR official told Government Executive: “We don’t have the staff to hire, do backgrounds or even onboard.”
The consequences are already hitting visitors. Rangers are being pulled off trails to collect entrance fees. Campground check-ins go unstaffed. Backcountry permits go unmanaged. And with wildfire season approaching amid record drought, a depleted seasonal workforce can easily snowball into a full-blown public safety crisis, not just an inconvenience.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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