The Interior Department committed Tuesday to hiring seasonal employees for national parks, while confusion lingered within the agency about whether Trump administration moves to shrink the federal workforce will leave parks with anemic staffing levels during the busy summer season.
Interior released a statement reiterating that it will hire people to fill “key positions,” including seasonal employees at national parks and wildland firefighters, despite a broader Trump administration hiring freeze.
“The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners,” the department said in a statement that was also shared with the media over the weekend after Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) asked federal agencies to exempt firefighters from the hiring freeze.
Regarding the National Park Service specifically, Interior on Tuesday said in a statement to POLITICO’s E&E News: “The Department will also hire key positions to ensure the public has access to our parks during its peak season.”
