President Trump on Monday put a freeze on federal government hiring, an action that could have wide-ranging impacts for the National Park Service as it moves to hire thousands of seasonal rangers and other employees for the upcoming summer.
Beyond seasonal positions, there are many vacancies involving permanent positions that parks are trying to fill. Then, too, there are personnel who have been offered permanent jobs but haven't begun working and are wondering how the hiring freeze will impact them.
At the National Parks Conservation Association, President and CEO Theresa Pierno said the hiring freeze would adversely affect the National Park System.
“Protecting our national parks requires the dedicated efforts of tens of thousands of rangers and other Park Service employees every day, but much of their staffs are edging closer to retirement. Parks already have 10 percent fewer rangers and other staff compared to a few years ago," said Theresa Pierno in a prepared statement. "They cannot continue to be hampered by low staffing, and that’s exactly what will happen with this hiring freeze.
"Park rangers are already forced to do more with less because they don’t have enough staff to handle record-breaking crowds. If Congress and the administration don’t work together to better staff our parks, this will only make it harder for those remaining park staff to care for and manage America’s favorite places.”
Traveler has reached out to Park Service officials for their interpretation of the scope of the hiring freeze and will update the story when possible.
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If this were a situation that was specific to the NPS, I would be sympathetic with the NCPA's complaints. But it is not. It is an action being taken across the entire federal government in recognition of the fact that our government has gone far beyond its Constitutional mandate and is creating an unsustainable level of debt. Will this action reverse that immediately? No. Will a hiring freeze alone solve the problems, no. But it will be a major wakeup call for the federal buearucracy that things have got to change. When they have and things are under control the NPCA can legitmately make their argument. For once, people like the NPCA need to look beyond their own special interest and support what is right for the country as a whole.
These bureaucracies did not emerge overnight as some widescale socialist welfare handout, but emerged in an organic manner over centuries to serve the needs of the American people. These needs have grown more complicated over time, and even with the monumental structure of the federal government, most agencies, like the NPS, remain chronically understaffed and underfunded. I'm not sure what changes you're proposing, but keep in mind you don't live in an isolated bubble in which the governement exists to serve you alone, and that changes to any one agency can have greater ramifications to the system as a whole. I suggest you start to imagine what your end goal really looks like.
If you look back at other times a federal hiring freeze was enacted you'll see that it actually costs the government more money and doesn't solve any problems.
I know what my end goal looks like. It looks like the goal the authors of the Constitution envisioned. My end goal is to radically reduce the size of the federal government and return its reach to the designated powers of the Constitution. Our forefathers had the brilliance to create a representative republic with a clear seperation of powers. The growth of the American government and its buearucracy has destroyed that visions greating an organism (the buearucarcy) that acts as legistlative, executive and judicial branch on its own, much to the detriment of our economy, our economic health and our freedom. Government best serves when its powers are limited and the source of its powers are local.
Elle - that is some people's opinion, others have a different opinion. Either way, you must admit, these are different times.
I suggest you tell the Amercan people to stay home ths summer. No business experiences record growth without hiring help. Maybe you can answer the complaint letters when customer service goes down the toilet for the NPS.
If the NPS staff can't handle the crowds then reduce the crowds by banning foreigners from our parks that are for the enjoyment of the US citizens.
"Parks already have 10 percent fewer rangers and other staff compared to a few years ago". So where was the outcry when this took place under Obama? A hiring freeze can mean many things. It can be temporary in that if cuts are deemed warranted that it would be cruel to have people take jobs which are soon to be eliminated or combined in another part of the country. It can mean no net increase, meaning open positions could still be filled and retirees replaced, or any of a number of other options. I'll also point out that in my many years of working for large corporations not once did I encounter a department that said we have enough people or enough money. Sometimes they were correct, often times they were not. But lets cry wolf before we even know what this hiring freeze means, because after all that's what we Americans seem to do best.