For the last five weeks we have been receiving reports of layoffs within the National Park Service. When the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” took place in February, I published some of the impacts on park properties that were devoted to the Civil War. Today Axios has published some of the cut-backs at scores of National Park properties from throughout the nation. The figures came from a spreadsheet released by an unnamed NPS Ranger that the gave the spreadsheet to Axios. There are many parks that focus either entirely or in part on the Civil War. However, the spead sheet only accounts for 3/4s of all the layoffs. For a sizable number of parks, the compiler said that they did not have reliable stats and so they left the spreadsheet black for those parks.
In my listing below, I did not list those parks that she spreadsheet did not give numbers for. You can follow the link above to see if additional information has been inserted.
I also did not enter layoffs at parks which contain Civil War sites, but which do not present the Civil War as a prmary of secondary focus. For instance, Shenandoah lost 15.staffers under the layoffs, but I did not include it in the list.
Here are the parks and other NPS sites where verified layoffs have occurred among permanent staff along with number laid off in the last month.
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace 2
Andersonville 1
Antietam 1
Appomattox 1
Baltimore Parks Area including Ft. McHenry (only partially devoted to Civil War) 6
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (only partially devoted to Civil War) 6
Chickasaw 2
Cumberland Gap (only partially devoted to Civil War) 4
Dry Tortugas (only partially devoted to Civil War) 1
Fort Donelson 1
Fort Pulaski 1
Fort Sumter 3
Fredericksburg 1
Gettysburg 5
Manassas 1
Springfield Armory (only partially devoted to Civil War) 1
Ulysses S. Grant 2
Vicksburg 7
Please contact your Congressional representatives to let them know that you object to this potentially illegal firing of staff staff.
Call the House of Representatives Switchboard to contact your Congressperson (202) 224-3121.
When you call you will likely have a live operator who will connect you to your Congressperson, so make sure you know the name of your Congressperson!
Here is a close look at the Gettysburg layoffs.
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I was at Gettysburg on Friday, and talked to a very personable ranger there.
There was a volunteer NPS worker also at the information desk, as well. The visitor’s center was also staffed by another group, Friends of Gettysburg. The guides who spoke about the cyclorama were very professional, and the site was well maintained.
I realize it’s early days of all this mess, and can imagine, once the tourist season gets really busy, and regular summer maintenance is required,it’s going to be hard to maintain the levels of service necessary.
Heartfelt wishes to all the personnel who are caught in all this through no fault of their own.
Sucks to be 36 TRILLION in debt. Sad but inevitable
This isn’t about reducing the debt. The U.S. National Park system budget for 2023 was $3.6 billion in 2023, and the system generated $55.6 billion in economic output. Likewise in 2024, parks generated far more in revenue than it cost to operate and maintain them.
I have been to 6 of these. The 8S Oarks service personnel bring these sites to life. The Maga’s complained about statues of traitorous men being removed. Where are they now?
I know what you mean.