On April 3, 2026, the Trump administration released its proposed FY2027 budget. For the National Park Service, this means another round of significant cuts.
According to GearJunkie, the proposal would slash NPS funding by $736 million, roughly 20 percent, on top of a year that already pushed the agency to its limits.
For tourists planning summer trips, this might not feel like a big deal to you. But the effects are showing up directly on the trail. This isn’t only a political story. This is about trail safety, emergency response, and what you can expect when you visit any of the national parks this summer.
How the NPS Got Here
Since January 2025, the NPS has lost roughly 25 percent of its permanent workforce (about 4,000 employees) through layoffs, buyouts, and forced resignations. The worst of it happened in February 2025 when roughly 1,000 NPS employees were let go in one single day. A third voluntary departure window closed in April 2026, so more exits are still in progress.
Seasonal hiring, meant to make up some of the gap, isn’t keeping pace. The administration pledged nearly 8,000 seasonal positions heading into this summer. Only about 4,500 have been filled. Congress did push back—the FY2026 appropriations bill held park operations funding relatively steady at $2.88 billion, rejecting the worst proposed cuts. But steady funding doesn’t bring back 4,000 people who are already gone.
What Fewer Rangers Actually Means on the Trail
These budget cuts are translating into tangible problems at our national parks—including backlogs in trail maintenance, restroom closures, and reduced emergency response capacity.
Joshua Tree and Yosemite have seen difficulties with search-and-rescue operations and basic medical services. Some parks have temporarily shuttered visitor centers or closed trailheads entirely for multiple days per week, simply because there aren’t enough people to run them.
Mount Rainier—a park Stacey Slamka has hiked firsthand—dropped from 200 to only 130 employees to manage 2.5 million visitors. The remaining staff are increasingly asked to cover roles outside their training. This results in less dedicated trail work, slower crisis response, and fewer ranger-led programs for visitors who depend on that guidance.
Why This Summer Feels Different
A few things are converging in 2026 that make the staffing situation feel more urgent than usual. Twenty-six national parks set attendance numbers in 2025 alone, and visitation continues to climb. At the same time, timed-entry reservations have been dropped at four major parks—Glacier, Mount Rainier, Arches, and Yosemite—meaning more visitors will be showing up with fewer systems in place to control the flow and fewer rangers available to handle the volume.
There’s also a huge fire risk. Experts say 2026 will be one of the driest years for Western communities. Wildland firefighters who held NPS seasonal appointments were among those cut, and that staffing gap in fire response compounds an already dry summer in precisely the regions where the trails are.
What You Can Do as a Hiker
None of this means you should stay home. In fact, the opposite is true—parks need visitors right now, and large visitation numbers are part of the argument for restoring funding. But it does mean going in prepared.
Check each park’s official website and social media before your trip. Keep in mind that hours may differ, trails could be closed, and visitor centers may not be open when you expect them to be. Visit on weekdays if possible, preferably early morning or late afternoon, to avoid peak crowds.
Carry extra water, a paper map, bear spray in bear country, and a basic first aid kit. Assume a ranger may not be nearby when you need one.
And when you do see a park ranger, thank them. They are doing more with less than at any point in recent memory. If you want to take it further, contact your elected officials and consider donating to nonprofit partners that support individual parks. The people who care for these trails need to know that the public is paying attention.
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