National Park Check-In: Doug Burgum is Leaving America’s Parks Understaffed and Underfunded
Memorandum: National Park Check-In: Doug Burgum is Leaving America’s Parks Understaffed and Underfunded
To: Interested Parties
From: Save Our Parks
Date: Thursday, July 9, 2026
Contact: Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks Spokesperson
As the country celebrates National Parks & Recreation Month, reporters should take a hard look at what’s actually happening at their area national parks, and check in on the employees who keep them running and visitors safe. The Guardian’s on-the-ground reporting from Yosemite this month found traffic jams, overflowing parking lots, and long lines for bathrooms and buses after the park dropped its reservation system heading into peak season, all while the National Park Service has lost close to 25% of its permanent staff.
The money tells the same story as the crowds. Park project spending outside Washington, D.C. has dropped roughly 68%, or $854 million, since the fiscal year began in October, with $235 million of that pulled from Pacific West parks like Yosemite. Meanwhile, spending on the national capital region has jumped more than 92%, funded in part by over $100 million in fees collected at parks nationwide and redirected toward fireworks, fountains, and other projects tied to the administration’s Freedom 250 celebrations. The park system still carries a $24 billion repair backlog.
Congress has jurisdiction here and isn’t using it. The House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, along with the bipartisan Public Lands and Stewardship caucuses, have had months to hold Doug Burgum and the administration accountable for the staffing collapse and entrance fee reallocation. Instead, the extent of Congressional action has been advancing the America the Beautiful Act, a reauthorization of maintenance funding that cleared committee in June but hasn't reached a floor vote in either chamber. Congress patting itself on the back for that while a quarter of the workforce disappears and entrance fees are re-routed to Trump’s vanity projects is akin to repainting the porch while the house burns down.
That bill is worth passing, but it is not a fix. It does nothing to reverse the staffing losses, restore the diverted fee revenue, or address Interior’s new internal policy barring park staff from confirming deaths or serious injuries to the public, a policy in place when 22-year-old Josue Baires Alfaro died after being swept over Yosemite’s Nevada Fall in June. It also does nothing to resolve the ongoing legal fight over historical exhibits Burgum and the administration are trying to censor and erase, and whose restoration the administration is still appealing.
If you’re covering local parks this summer, Save Our Parks recommends asking park staff two questions: How many positions are vacant, and who’s covering the gap? The answers will reveal what the new normal looks like for the people who keep America’s parks running, even as Burgum diverts their fees to fund fireworks, fountains, and other Trump vanity projects in Washington.
Save Our Parks encourages reporters to check in with park superintendents, rangers, seasonal workers, maintenance crews, emergency responders, employee unions, and others about staffing levels, safety, and morale heading into the busiest weeks of the summer tourist season. The consequences for many parks and the gateway communities and small businesses that rely on them, not to mention the outdoor economy and Americans’ outdoor heritage, could be altered for generations to come.
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