Nov 30, 2025
It’s Thanksgiving Weekend, usually interpreted as a bountiful time of year when we can all sit back and be thankful. But can many who work for the National Park Service feel thankful in the wake of the staff reductions this year?
This year has been hard on the Park Service, what with the loss
of roughly a quarter of the full-time workforce and questions
around how the agency has long interpreted history.
But the Park Service has long struggled with its operations.
Funding and staffing never seem to have met the needs of the Park
Service to manage its far-flung collection of more than 400 units.
We’re going to explore the funding and staffing issue of the agency
today with John Garder, the senior director of budget and
appropriations for the National Parks Conservation
Association.