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When the U.S. government started setting aside public land more than 150 years ago, its goal was twofold: to protect the scenery and wildlife of these special places and to allow people to enjoy them, long into the future.

For decades, though, land management agencies have struggled to fulfill that original mission as Congress has trimmed their funding, leaving them understaffed. The National Park Service lost 20 percent of its workers between 2010 and the end of 2024, even as the parks’ popularity reached last year. Staffing at national wildlife refuges, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shrank 30 percent in the same period.

Now the Trump administration’s deep cuts to the federal workforce have turned those long-running challenges into a full-blown crisis, advocates say. “The fat is gone. The muscle is gone,” says Desirée Sorensen-Groves, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Refuge Association. “They’re a skeleton now, and you’re losing the bones.”

The onslaught began on Valentine’s Day, when the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, ordered mass layoffs for federal employees who had recently been hired or changed roles. Thousands at the NPS, FWS, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management were cut in one fell swoop, regardless of their job performance or duties. Thousands of other long-term employees at those agencies have reportedly accepted early retirement offers. Meanwhile, a temporary hiring freeze delayed the recruitment of seasonal staff for the busy summer months. “It’s going to take years, if not decades, to recover from some of the damage that’s being done right now to the national parks and other public lands,” says Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.

Some employees got their jobs back after courts ruled that their firings were illegal, but uncertainty still hangs over the agencies. “Everybody’s in flux,” says Elaine F. Leslie, a retired NPS biologist with the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. “From day to day, they don’t know if they have a job.” One current NPS worker, who requested anonymity to protect their job, says they are bracing for more cuts: “It feels inevitable.”

Travelers felt the impacts this spring. Parks shut down visitors’ centers, tours, trails, and campgrounds, and people complained of piled-up trash, long waits at entrance gates, and bathrooms with no toilet paper. Summer visitors may see some relief as rehired and seasonal staffers come onboard, but it’s still far from “business as usual,” the NPS employee says.

The deeper effects on ecosystems may take longer to understand—and be harder to repair. “We can reopen a building tomorrow,” says Russell Galipeau, former superintendent of Channel Islands National Park who retired in 2018. “We may not be able to bring a species back tomorrow.” Supporting wildlife on public lands requires constant behind-the-scenes work, whether that’s treating California Condors for lead poisoning or managing water levels at Whooping Crane migration stopovers. Even brief interruptions can cause lasting damage, Leslie says. Some projects have already been disrupted: According to news reports, the February layoffs included running a breeding center for the near-extinct black-footed ferret and a working to restore habitat for the imperiled Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken, who was so dedicated to saving the birds that she volunteered at the refuge even after she was fired.

Federal employees also manage habitat to reduce wildfire risk and fend off invasive species, from Burmese pythons that devour wading birds in the Florida Everglades to feral hogs whose wallows help spread avian malaria in Hawaiian forests. Once these invasives gain a foothold, “they can take over an ecosystem so fast,” Sorensen-Groves says. “Our native species won’t have a chance.”

Staffing-related disruptions to monitoring efforts could also make it hard for scientists to know how species are faring. “They could just go extinct tomorrow, because nobody is paying attention,” Leslie says. Researchers have, for example, warned that monitoring Spotted Owls in western forests will be greatly reduced this year, even though it’s required under federal forest management plans and is essential for gauging population health.

The cuts have struck a nerve among the Americans of all stripes who care deeply about public lands. A last year found that the NPS had the highest public approval rating of any federal agency, at 76 percent. and are also major forces in local economies, generating billions of dollars in spending each year for nearby communities. Since the initial layoffs, protesters have turned out in support of public lands across the country—from Yellowstone, the world’s oldest national park, to Chuckwalla National Monument, just designated in January. Elected officials from both major parties have also spoken out against DOGE’s far-reaching cuts to land management agencies.

Meanwhile, federal workers still on the job are determined to uphold public lands’ original promise. “We care so, so deeply for these parks, and we work to ensure that they will still be there for the next generation and all those to come,” the NPS employee said. “We will never stop fighting for the parks we love.”

This story ran in the Summer 2025 issue as “Skeleton Crew.” To receive our print magazine, become a member by .