As national parks adapt to the lasting effects of seasonal job offer rescindment and mass firings on Valentine’s Day, the National Park Service announced it’s canceling ranger programs and limiting visitor center hours at Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks until further notice.
A park service spokesperson did not comment on the reason for the changes, but they’re likely due to the loss of staffing. Krista Simonic, owner of Sequoia Guides, told SFGATE that the parks have lost 11 staff members, including four rangers.
“A lot of people, they just come to the park, and they don’t know really what to do, so they come to the visitor center, and that’s where they get their information,” Simonic said. “So without that information, I’ve seen just a lot of kind of visitor confusion, people just kind of wandering around, looking at maps and stuff, and being like, ‘Hey, where are the things that I want to see?’”
The Foothills Visitor Center at Sequoia National Park is now open Wednesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Giant Forest Museum in Sequoia National Park is open Friday through Tuesday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Kings Canyon Visitor Center is open Thursday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. All three visitor centers used to be open seven days a week.
Jesse Chakrin, the executive director of the Fund for People in Parks, said that while the parks service deals with budget cuts and limited staffing, a record number of park visitors are coming to visit. Last year, Sequoia Park saw 1,309,573 visitors, and Kings Canyon saw 699,389 visitors. Chakrin said that there could be major consequences if the workforce continues to shrink.
“They could start to see resource damage where there’s additional amounts of garbage, where there might be vehicles driving where they should not, rare and sensitive plants getting killed and dramatic impacts to visitors and wildlife interactions — especially in conflict areas like campgrounds,” Chakrin said. “And then, the thing that we’re all anticipating is the potential for health and safety issues where there may not be enough staff to even respond to emergency situations.”
Beyond the visitor center hours, Chakrin said the ranger programs provide incredible value for younger generations.
“One of the things that we commit to is that we are to provide for the protection of these places, as well as the enjoyment of the visiting public, as well as their education and inspiration,” Chakrin said. “And when you don’t have the tools necessary or the rangers that help to bring the park to the people in ways that are universally understood, you lose that ability to understand why these places are special or why we should care about them — not just for ourselves but for the generations that we don’t know who they are yet.”
