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Senators blast proposed deep cuts to National Park Service; secretary says data gaps complicate oversight
Summary
Senators including Angus King and Jon Wyden criticized a proposed 3037% reduction to National Park Service funding and urged the department for more data on visitation and staffing. Secretary Burgum said the department is rebuilding HR and visitor data and argued efficiencies could shift resources from overhead into parks.
Senators pressed Secretary Doug Burgum on the proposed reductions to the National Park Service and the consequences for staffing, visitor services and deferred maintenance.
Sen. Angus King criticized the administration's budget submission as inadequate for oversight, saying a 37% cut to the NPS "is devastating to the National Park Service" and noting a widening gap between visitation and staffing over recent years. King said the proposed $1.2 billion reduction to NPS would do "huge damage" to a widely popular federal agency.
Sen. Jon Wyden and others raised examples of park operations under strain, including closures of tours, canceled programs and difficulty filling seasonal staff. Wyden asked Burgum to commit to ensuring park sites in Oregon and elsewhere have the staff and resources needed for the summer season. Burgum said the department had filled thousands of seasonal positions and that some roles remained open, encouraging applicants and promising continued work with senators to address local needs.
Burgum told the committee the department has spent the spring rebuilding HR data to identify how many of the employees counted in aggregate staffing numbers actually work in park units rather than in headquarters; he said that reconciliation of those data will help inform any decisions about allocations between headquarters overhead and on-the-ground staff.
The hearing also returned to the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Great American Outdoors Act. Senators urged the department to deliver a prioritized project list and to follow statutes governing LWCF funding for acquisitions and recreation projects. Burgum said the department will follow the law and work with Congress on priorities.
Why it matters: The National Park Service oversees hundreds of park units visited by millions of people annually; reductions to staffing or operations could affect visitor services, local tourism economies and maintenance of cultural and natural resources.
What comes next: Senators asked for the department to provide data showing where staffing is located, LWCF priority project lists and follow-up plans for seasonal hiring and park operations.
