More than 500 people flanked both sides of the road for more than a mile Saturday morning near the entrance to the Beaver Meadows Visitors Center in Rocky Mountain National Park to show their support for Park employees whose jobs have been cut or are at risk.
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While the exact number of RMNP full-time and seasonal employees affected is not known because the National Park service will not provide that information despite media inquiries at both the local and national levels, the National Parks Conservation Association, a national nonprofit advocacy organization with 1.6 million members headquartered in Washington D.C., estimates that some 1,700 employees—approximately 9% of all NPS employees—have been fired or resigned since Feb. 14.
Approximately 1,000 of those were probationary employees in their first year of federal employment or employees who have transitioned to a new job role, and 700 were full-time employees who have opted to take the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignation buyout program. Workers who opted for this plan had to accept the terms by Feb. 12.
Additionally, an estimated 4,000 other federal employees who work for the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other land management offices have received notices that their jobs have been eliminated.
On Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, the Estes Valley Voice requested information from the local public information office at Rocky Mountain National Park. On Feb. 20, information was requested from the Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, and from the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the USFS, about the number of employees affected in the local community.
To date, the EVV has not received answers to our questions.
A group of NPS rangers has produced a spreadsheet via crowdsourcing on the number of terminated NPS employees across the country. The EVV cannot verify the data, however, the spreadsheet estimates that 12 jobs in RMNP have been eliminated.
On Feb. 27, the NPS issued the following public statement to media outlets:
The National Park Service is hiring seasonal workers to continue enhancing the visitor experience as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management. We are focused on ensuring that every visitor has the chance to explore and connect with the incredible, iconic spaces of our national parks.
Saturday’s protest
The protest Saturday was as much a show of support for the workers as it was a demonstration of concern by citizens for the lack of information coming from the government about the impact of the staffing issues on the nation’s public lands.
One protester, Dorothy Gibbs, held a sign that read “97 years old STILL fighting for public lands!” Gibbs, who worked as a volunteer for RMNP for more than two decades, chanted with the crowd “Save our parks, save our parks.”
Another protestor, a volunteer with eleven years of service who grew up coming to Rocky to camp and attend Ranger talks, said she received an email yesterday asking all volunteers at RMNP not to speak to the press. The woman, who did not want to give her name, told the Estes Valley Voice she came out to support the workers who have lost their jobs, including one of her closest friends. “Suddenly, he doesn’t have a job. He had his dream job,” she said.
Matthew Lewis drove up from Longmont to show his support for the NPS. “I came here because public lands are important to me. I think as a nation, we have a responsibility to steward and protect them. All these cuts and layoffs go absolutely against that idea and that value.”
Elizabeth Reilly and her family made the two-hour drive from Littleton for the rally. A recent transplant from Pennsylvania, Reilly just got rid of her Tesla Model 3 in protest of Elon Musk who is heading up the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency as a “special government employee.” Musk, one of the richest men in the world, is the CEO of Tesla.
Jaime, who identified herself as an attorney from Longmont and did not want to provide her last name because she works for the government, said, “I know the kind of work that public servants do, how qualified they are, how hard these jobs are to get and remain in, and the kind of work that is required.”
“It’s our taxpayer dollars that support our public lands and the National Park Service. You need people to fulfill that service. In order to enjoy it and have these places to visit we need the people.”
Iolanthe Culjak of Estes Park brought along her dog, Vida, who was proudly decked out in her own sign that said simply, “RESIST.” Culjak is concerned that with the volume of people visiting the Park each year – more than 4 million in 2024 – the natural resources of the Park will not be protected.
Since 1989, Bruce Harrington, a former wildland firefighter and seasonal worker in the NPS and U.S. Forest Service, has been connected to Estes Park. He and his wife currently live in Loveland, but they have two rental cabins in the Estes Valley.
“The park is everything to us,” said Harrington. “This is our backyard. It’s our favorite National Park in the entire country and we’ve been to many.”
Harrington described the firings and layoffs as an attack on both the Parks and the employees. “Our parks are severely underfunded, they have been forever,” lamented Harrington, who said the Parks cannot be looked at as profit centers. “They’re our lands. They are public lands, and we will see them being put up for sale in the very near future if we don’t stand here and fight.”
A federal employee who lost her job in what has been dubbed the “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” is planning on being U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse’s guest for public events in Washington, DC. Mikayla Moors said she will bring her work boots with her to the Capitol. “I will ask them to walk a mile in my shoes,” she said. “I know most of them won’t do it.”
One NPS ranger who has worked for RMNP for more than a decade and gave an interview to the Estes Valley Voice on background said seasonal employees are not sure what to expect. Normally, seasonal employees who work from May through October would have a contract by early February. With 60 days until May 1 and less than 90 days until Memorial Day weekend – the official start of the summer visitor season – the ranger has not received a contract.
There are 433 national park sites across the country and in four U.S. territories encompassing more than 85 million acres; 63 sites include “National Park” as part of their proper name, including Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Great Sand Dunes, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
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