The Trump administration’s firings at the National Park Service have been chaotic. And while some of its most aggressive measures were later rescinded, advocates for national park employees say the fallout is just beginning to be felt here in Arizona.
Grand Canyon National Park is warning visitors to anticipate long lines at all its entrances. The heaviest delays will be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and officials predict full parking lots as spring break visitors arrive.
But officials declined to state whether those impacts are the result of the firing of 1,000 employees from the Park Service’s permanent workforce. The agency’s Grand Canyon NP spokeswoman directed our questions to a higher office which did not respond.
Bill Wade is executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, a nonprofit that speaks on rangers behalf.
"The term that we’ve heard the most from employees that are still working in parks, is that this has all been, to them, devastating," he said.
The agency has not specified cuts. But for example, Saguaro National Park has announced its two visitor centers will be closed Mondays. The service won’t give specifics but according to Wade, 32 employees at six national parks and monuments in Arizona were terminated.
