Stephanie Sy:
Joining me now to discuss the state of the national parks is Theresa Pierno. She’s the president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association.
Theresa, your organization put out a report earlier this month that found that the National Park Service has lost 24 percent, nearly a quarter, of its permanent staff since January. There are nearly 100 vacant superintendent positions, and seasonal hiring is not filling a lot of gaps.
You just heard others, Theresa, describe the impacts on morale. How major are these staffing shortages and how do you think park visitors will be experiencing them?
Theresa Pierno, President and CEO, National Parks Conservation Association: I think, as you heard from others, the parks are at a real crisis point. I mean, not only were they going into this year understaffed, but then there’s a hiring freeze. Then you see a reduction of 24 percent is enormous, over 4,000 staff members.
And then there’s still the potential for even additional reductions. Besides that, the hiring freeze continues. So we have many superintendents, hundreds of superintendent positions vacant, maintenance workers. Workers that do the essential jobs within a park so that a visitor can have an excellent experience are vacant, and they can’t fill them.
And the other thing, they can’t spend any money without permission. So it’s a really difficult, demoralizing situation.
