Data from the United States Department of the Interior shows that the National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent staff nationwide in 2025. This is in addition to uncertain budget cuts for the park system on a federal level.
The National Parks Conservation Association is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to protecting and enhancing the national park system in the U.S. Eboni Preston Goddard is the Southeast regional director for NPCA. She says national park staff morale is low.
Eboni Preston Goddard: People just don’t know what the next thing brings us. You know, we make a point to connect with Park Service personnel as much as we can and let them know that we’re here as a resource for them. But sometimes, you know, they’re getting information from us. And so it’s just really a tough time. And there’s a lot of unknowns that are there, a lot of proposals and things like that, like we’re talking about right now as it relates to the budget or just kind of lingering in the area or in the air and they don’t know what’s ahead of them. And so it’s a really scary space to be in because it’s most often not just them. They’re not in a job where they’re making all this money. You know, a lot of people say National Park Service, they get paid in rainbows and experiences, but it’s people that really love the work that they do, and they’re really dedicated to it, but they’re coming on behalf of their families. They’re coming on behalf of their communities, like it’s the positions that are really charged to have a lot of impact, both personally and professionally. So it’s definitely hard right now.
Matthew Moore: A common term we use for people who work in the public industry is civil servants. And there’s some literalism to that terminology when we think of that, that people who work in the public industry or the public sector could probably make more money working in the private sector, but often do it because they love and appreciate the vision and mission of the place that they work. And I’m sure that you hear that from people who work in national parks, that they value the outdoor space, they value the resource that is available to people in Arkansas. And that is a priority over getting extremely well compensated.
Eboni Preston Goddard: Yeah. No, you’re absolutely right. And as I mentioned before, it’s moving into community, right. And so it’s not just a business or a restaurant that’s down the street. Those are your neighbors. And so making sure that they’re sharing that story, making sure that they’re sharing resources. You mentioned Buffalo National River, there’s programming, or at least there was programming that was going into the schools and making sure that there were those connections with their students. And so to your point, it’s something that’s deeply personal and something that’s really important. And so for that to go away, even in small fashion, which it hasn’t been, is really heartbreaking.
Matthew Moore: Let’s backpedal just a little bit here and talk about the staffing shortages. They aren’t new. When we think about national parks, they have been understaffed for quite some time. What does it mean for a national park and the experience they can provide visitors if a park is understaffed?
Eboni Preston Goddard: I’ll say this too. You mentioned funding. Just looking over time, you’re right. We could always use more dollars there. But what that translated into is that a single person could be doing the role of two or three or four. And we’re certainly seeing that right now. With the impacts to staffing, you could see lines when you’re trying to get into a park. For some of our busier parks, the lines can take a lot longer. Maybe it took you 10 or 15 minutes before, it could now take upwards of a couple of hours. Maybe some of the facilities, like restrooms, could be closed because there’s no one there to clean them. Or it could be that same ranger that was supposed to do your favorite Ranger talk, or give you directions to this station, or make sure that you have the proper shoes on for safety, maybe they’re having to clean the toilet. So then those educational programs are out the window. Maybe there’s a favorite trail that you have. As we mentioned, Arkansas has a few trails that are part of this national park system. Maybe they’re closed because there’s no one there to clean the brush, and some trees or maybe something happened and it just can’t be tackled that day. There’s deferred maintenance that’s happening. Things are just continuing to build up. And so visitors don’t have those same resources that they typically have. The National Park Service certainly values safety. So they’re not going to create opportunities for visitors that are unsafe or situations that can’t possibly be managed. So they have to close them or they have to limit hours, or that experience looks completely different.
Matthew Moore: I think of national parks staff a bit like a really good official in a football game, that if they’re doing a good job, you don’t notice that they’re there and you don’t think about it, but you enjoy the experience that you’re having. And I feel like a well-resourced, well-staffed national park can have a similar experience, right?
Eboni Preston Goddard: Yeah, I love that analogy. Especially being in the Southeast. That’s great. You’re spot on. But what I’ll say too is that to the point of the civil servant, these people are dedicated to it. Even right now, Matthew, we’ve seen the highest visitation that we’ve ever seen. In 2024, we saw 331 million people go to national parks. So for all of this to be happening at a time where funding is cut and staff are being lost, it’s really heartbreaking. But they’re always going to put their best foot forward. You’re going to go, you’re going to talk to a ranger. They’re not complaining. They’re not moping around. They have their heads held high. They’re doing all that they can to make sure that experience is memorable. Again, different probably, but memorable because they’re dedicated to it. So they’re still working as if things are the best situation, even though they’re not.
Matthew Moore: We do have some local congressional support to better fund and better resource national parks. Representative Bruce Westerman is a congressman here in our listening area, someone who does have a lot of sway and opinions about natural resources and funding national parks. What does the relationship look like with Congress and these national parks, and what sort of word are we hearing from them as to whether or not they plan on offering more budget to the National Park Service?
Eboni Preston Goddard: I first want to see your point. I want to lift up and appreciate our champions that have really doubled down to say these parks matter. We’re listening to our community, to our constituents. We hear you guys. We appreciate it. And they’re continuing to lead the charge. And for that, again, genuinely, we say thank you. But there are bigger threats that are out there. And so it’s really important to get these bills passed to make sure that there’s protection that’s made. Right now, there are a few different budgets that are being proposed. On the Senate side, it’s really strong. It’s bipartisan funding that holds the National Park Service funding steady. It’s a flat budget. And it’s also blocking a lot of reckless cuts and defending the integrity of the park, something that we’re really appreciative for and continues to give us hope. But then there are some other proposed budgets. The House budget and the administration’s budget are really showing some significant cuts. The administration budget, the intentions are really clear, and we’ve seen almost a billion dollars cut from the National Park Service budget. It’s quite frankly one of the worst budgets we’ve seen for the National Park Service in a very long time, if not period. We’ve run the numbers. If the administration gets what it wants, then that budget could shut down 350 parks. The national park system as a whole only has 433. So obviously that’s a really big chunk of it. On the House side, that bill pushes back on some of the cuts that would come with that billion-dollar cut. But it’s still offering a slash of $176 million from the national parks operating budget. We’ve talked about the tough situation that we’ve seen already in the last nine months. That would certainly make that worse as well.
Matthew Moore: As you talk about education, you talk about development, you talk about workforce, something that comes to mind for me is here in Arkansas, we put a lot of priority on outdoor recreation. We think a lot about workforce development. Having a good, strong, sustainable national park system and even on a different level, the state park system, having these sorts of spaces where kids can go and say, wow, I could see myself being a park ranger, having these sorts of well-resourced spaces where people can see themselves having a future in this workforce seems to be a net positive for our state too.
Eboni Preston Goddard: I couldn’t agree more. And Matthew, that’s honestly why I got into this space, to show the amount of access that is there and the amount of joy that comes with it. Your ability to go to some of these places, it’s just breathtaking. For people to not only get that on vacation, but to be like, I can do this every day for work. It’s inspiring. It brings hope. And it gives people something to look forward to. So I love that. And it’s certainly making an impact to those civil servants and what that looks like as a whole.
Matthew Moore: As we start to close up here, what word of encouragement would you have to people who are advocates for national parks, people who work in national parks and are listening to the program today?
Eboni Preston Goddard: To all the students, to the neighbors, to the business owners, to the visitors, let it be known that parks matter to you. We want to make sure that they are upheld. And that starts with funding. So I encourage everyone to go to NPCA state parks. Tell members of Congress that these national parks matter. And we want to see them thrive both today, tomorrow and in the future. Let your voice be known. Let them know how much you enjoy going to these places. Let them know the changes that you’ve seen. Let them know the impacts that are being made even now. But just keep continuing to share your story and the love for these spaces.
Eboni Preston Goddard is the Southeast regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association. We spoke over the phone late last week.
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