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Death Valley officials warn staffing cuts and budget uncertainty threaten park services and projects
Summary
National Park Service officials told the Inyo County Board that federal staffing reductions, hiring freezes and uncertain funding could delay road, water and visitor projects and already have forced reduced services at some campgrounds and maintenance activities.
Death Valley National Park officials told the Inyo County Board of Supervisors at the Southeast County meeting that federal staffing cuts and budget uncertainty are already reducing park services and could delay major repair projects.
Park superintendent Mike Reynolds said the park is working on several road and safety projects after receiving federal and state grants, including a roughly $280,000 Caltrans grant for resurfacing and chevrons, culvert work on Highway 190 and a planned overlay on Giant Ranch Road. "Our engineers are working on the final specs, and hopefully, we'll be getting out to bid it later on this year," Reynolds said.
Park staff described deeper, systemic risks tied to a potential reduction in force in the National Park Service and an ongoing federal hiring freeze. Abby, park staff, said the agency expects to know "within the next 45 days what the impact will be" from a proposed RIF and that the park's operations already face constraints. "So our net loss is only 5 people to this…
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