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Washington, D.C. — As the long weekend approaches, millions of travelers are heading out to our beloved national parks — places that have long symbolized the beauty, freedom, and promise of this country. But this Fouth of July, visitors may encounter long lines, overflowing trash cans, closed bathrooms, damaged trails, and fewer staff to help. These conditions are no accident — they are the direct result of relentless budget cuts, staffing shortages, and policy rollbacks under the Trump administration. However, the most patriotic thing the administration can do this Fourth of July is protect our national parks.
The following news roundup calls attention to the ongoing threats to the National Park Service as it continues its busiest season of the year. This newsletter is brought to you by the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR), a coalition of former and current national parks staff — ranging from maintenance workers to biologists — that aims to support and protect the National Park Service by highlighting its employees’ diverse stories. As millions of Americans take advantage of all that our country’s public lands have to offer, this newsletter will elevate key stories and reports of the summer of crisis for our national parks.
ANPR’s Executive Director, Bill Wade, commented on several of the following media reports regarding the Trump administration’s requests for park visitors to comment on so-called “negative” stories and services:
"The best thing visitors can do is to use this portal to show their support for the parks and report on any remarkable service they get from rangers and to register their disdain for seeking negative feedback from visitors.”
MSNBC: Visitors push back after Trump admin. asks National Park guests to flag ‘negative content’
June 28, 2025
President Trump's Department of the Interior earlier this month ordered national parks to post signs prompting visitors to report "any signs or other information that are negative about past or living Americans." But visitors to the parks have been pushing back, Jen Psaki reports. "In ways big and small, Americans are finding ways to use their voices, or in this case, character count, to push back against Trump and his agenda, even on their visits to national parks, it seems."
The Denver Post: Signs posted at National Park Service sites seen as threats to ‘whitewash’ dark side of Colorado history
By John Meyer | June 29, 2025
Rick Williams, the leader of an American Indian group called People of the Sacred Land, reacted with disbelief this month upon learning signs were posted at the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado that critics are taking as a threat to whitewash history.
The signs, which were posted June 13 at all National Park Service sites by order of Interior Secretary Doug Bergum, begin innocuously by asking visitors to scan a QR code and answer three survey questions. The first asks them to identify areas that need repair. The second inquires about services that need improvement.
It’s the third survey query that is surprising many and alarming some. It asks visitors to identify “signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
Huffpost: Trump Ushers In A Bleak Future For Our National Parks
By Dave Jamieson | June 29, 2025
The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park started this year with 70 employees working across its 184.5-mile length. Just a few months into the Trump administration, the park is already down to 65. Among those it lost were its only arborist, its only carpenter and the superintendent who ran the park for five years.
The superintendent, Tina Cappetta, decided to retire early at the end of May. Cappetta suffers from chronic health conditions that are exacerbated by stress. She realized that managing a highly visited federal park through President Donald Trump’s workforce cuts was literally making her sick.
Washington Post: How park visitors responded when asked to report anti-American signs
By Jake Spring | June 29, 2025
The Trump administration wants national parks visitors to report signs or other information that’s “negative about either past or living Americans,” and posted QR codes on signs across the country encouraging people to submit comments.
Instead of rooting out examples of anti-American ideology, however, commenters have responded by criticizing mosquitoes and staffing cuts and praising the parks’ natural beauty, as well as park employees.
The drive to overhaul park signage is part of a wider effort begun by President Donald Trump in a March executive order seeking to scrub federal institutions — including the Smithsonian — of the Biden administration’s “corrosive ideology” recognizing historic racism and sexism. After that order and a similar directive from the Interior Department, an internal National Park Service memo instructed staff to post signs soliciting public comments by June 13.
Forbes: Trump’s Crackdown On ‘Negative’ History At National Monuments Faces Sabotage By Counter-Protest
By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher | June 30, 2025
Following an executive order from President Trump, the National Park Service began this month posting signs in federal parks and monuments that encourage visitors to report information “negative about either past or living Americans.”
These signs — which include a QR code that links to a feedback form on the NPS website — have been dubbed “snitch signs” by park service employees and conservation organizations.
Multiple national park advocacy groups, including some comprised of current and former NPS employees, have called for the public to hijack the government’s initiative by posting comments in support of national parks and their employees.
National Parks Traveler: 'Big Ugly Bill' Passes Senate With NPS Cuts
July 1, 2025
Advocates of national parks, the environment, and public lands decried the budget reconciliation bill passed Tuesday by the Senate, citing provisions that cut hundreds of millions of dollars in conservation funding and open up areas around the parks to more high impact industry like drilling and mining.
"This bill is an affront to park lovers near and far, and could destabilize the places people go to hike, fish and connect with America’s historic and cultural resources," Daniel Hart, the National Park Conservation Association's director of clean energy and climate policy, said in a statement.
KUNM: National Parks at risk as Congress weighs budget cuts, advocates say
By Bryce Dix | July 1, 2025
As Congress moves closer to passing President Trump’s sweeping tax and budget bill — which would slash funding for food assistance, Medicaid, and clean energy — advocates are sounding the alarm about the future of America’s National Parks.
The bill would strip the National Park Service of over a billion dollars for park operations, law enforcement, scientific research, and search and rescue efforts.
WTOP: What budget cuts and reduced staffing could mean for the National Park Service
By Steve Dresner | July 1, 2025
So quite a few workers, when they look at what the future is looking like and they see budget cuts on the menu, are figuring it’s a good time to get out. It’s not clear if all, if many, of these positions are going to be eligible to be refilled. So people are very concerned just about, sort of, a lack of bodies in the parks to do basic stuff, like trail maintenance, fee collection and all the stuff that we’re used to seeing.
I would think the national park areas are going to be just as difficult to maintain once the cutbacks, the people and the money go away. To give you an example, I reported a lot for the story on the C&O Canal, which is really important to us here in D.C., and that park has lost five employees this year.
The Cap Times: Plan to enjoy our national treasures this year? Good luck!
By Dave Zweifel | July 2, 2025
The Fourth of July weekend's already upon us, and with it, Americans are off to visit the wonders of their country that our leaders, from President Teddy Roosevelt on down, were determined to save for everyone's enjoyment.
But this year all those visitors to our national parks are being met with impossibly long lines, overflowing trash cans, closed toilets, crumbling trails and fewer park workers to help them understand the majesty of what they're visiting.
That's because, for the first time in more than a century, the nation has a president who doesn't care about silly things like natural wonders. They'd be better put to use for a coal mine or an oil well, or maybe even a fancy resort for the rich folks.
The Northern Virginia Daily: 'One really bad storm away': Shenandoah National Park staffing unclear as summer crowds surge
By Ryan Fitzmaurice | July 2, 2025
The National Park Service says Shenandoah National Park is ready for the summer season, but has not disclosed how many staff members are currently in place to care for the park or to meet visitors' needs.
In February, as the Department of Government Efficiency launched federal workforce reductions, park advocates reported that up to 15 positions had been cut from the park. The Park Service did not confirm the figure and has continued to decline to comment on personnel matters.
Now, with peak visitation underway, former park officials and conservation advocates say staffing levels remain unclear, but they believe the park is still significantly undermanned and vulnerable to deeper cuts.
11 Alive: Chattahoochee River advocates worried about funding cuts in 'Big, beautiful bill'
By Grace King | July 2, 2025
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" could make sweeping cuts to National Park Service funding, raising concerns among conservancy advocates who are already struggling with limited resources.
"This is kind of just salt in the wound at this point," said Brittany Jones, executive director of the Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy. "We're really worried about the capacity of the National Park Service and what this means for further reduction in force.
The New York Times: Meet the Volunteers Who Help Keep America’s Public Lands Running
By Stephanie Pearson | July 3, 2025
“There is nothing so American as our national parks,” said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a radio address from Glacier National Park in 1935. “The fundamental idea behind the parks,” he went on, “is that the country belongs to the people.”
Almost 100 years later, the parks are more popular than ever, with recreational visits across the National Park Service soaring to a record-breaking 331.9 million in 2024.
This summer, the parks are operating with reduced staff after cost-cutting by the Trump administration led to firings, deferred resignations and early retirements. That means fewer rangers to lead tours, search-and-rescue experts to find lost hikers and trail crews to clear downed trees.
Less visible to the public are the volunteers who help make the parks and other federal lands run, including 138,000 Volunteers-in-Parks who in 2024 contributed more than 3.7 million hours of service.
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