Editor's note: This updates with comments from Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks.

Roughly a third of the National Park Service's senior leadership positions are vacant, and the Interior Department reportedly has told the agency it will not be able to fill them.

The 11 vacancies come with the retirements or resignations of Deputy Director Lena McDowell; Justin Unger, associate director for business services; Matt Montana, chief information officer; Steve Cohn, associate director for Interpretation, Education, & Volunteers; and regional directors Sarah Creachbaum (Alaska) and Gay Vietzke (Northeast).

Another vacancy came with the retirement last month of Yosemite National Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon.

Two sources told the Traveler on Monday that the Park Service will not be allowed to fill those positions. An inquiry to the Interior Department and Park Service was not immediately answered Monday.

The vacancies — all Senior Executive Service positions — are on top of at least another dozen vacancies in the Park Service's superintendent ranks, as the Traveler's Lori Sonken reported last month.

Additionally, the Traveler has been told that Danny Smith, 79, who has a long and checkered history with the Interior Department, has returned there. During President Donald Trump's first term, Smith was involved with personnel moves that saw Dan Wenk forced out as Yellowstone National Park superintendent and a few regional directors retire rather than being forced to move to new jobs.

Smith was a political appointee working for then-Park Service Director Fran Mainella in 2004 when he became involved in a dispute at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in which he was implicated for improperly paving the way for the owner of the Washington Redskins to cut down trees on a 2-acre scenic easement held by the park.

An investigation by the Inspector General's office at the time found that Smith "inappropriately used his position to apply pressure and circumvent NPS procedures" to permit Redskins owner Dan Snyder to have trees up to 6 inches wide at breast height on the easement cut down to improve the Potomac River view from his mansion. According to the investigation by then-Inspector General Earl Devaney's staff, the Park Service failed to conduct the requisite environmental assessment as required by the NPS Director's Handbook before issuing the special user permit to Snyder.

Smith later was appointed superintendent of Colonial National Historical Park in Virginia, a position he held until retiring in 2014. He then was brought back to the Park Service in January 2018 by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to serve as a deputy director who could exercise the authority of the director, as there was no Senate-confirmed Park Service director. 

Smith also was involved with directing Park Service managers during the partial government shutdown early in 2019 to tap Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act funds if needed to keep parks operating. The Government Accountability Office later concluded that then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt twice broke the law when he told Smith to allow the diversions. Smith also gained attention in September 2019 when, acting at the Bernhardt's direction, he allegedly ignored a number of laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as the National Park Service Organic Act, to push through e-Bike access in the parks.

The Traveler was told that Smith, who in 2020 was given a role as "National Park Service Commemorations Specialist," currently is working as acting Assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Phil Francis, chair of the executive committee of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, was worried about the state of the National Park Service.

"I'm very surprised that he's back," Francis said of Smith's return. "It means that someone above Danny Smith is in charge and will make the decisions, and that Danny will be likely the person responsible for ensuring those decisions are actually implemented."

Francis, who spent four decades with the Park Service, including a long stint as superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, said the vacancies at the top of the agency could be a move to give the Trump administration even more control over how the Park Service operates. And the lack of communications from both the Interior Department and the Park Service are greatly concerning, he added.

"The lack of transparency is just unacceptable, really," he said during a phone call. "It's hard to know what's going on in the National Park System or the department. This is all of Americans' government. They should have a right to know who the leadership is."

The firings of roughly 1,000 Park Service employees earlier this year, along with the initial hold on seasonal hirings, and the block on filling vacancies, left Francis shaking his head over what is happening to the federal agency most loved by Americans.

"It seems to me that they're trying to cut costs again. It doesn't seem that they're making decisions that are going to improve the morale of employees," he said. "It doesn't seem that the decisions are going to allow the Park Service to meet its mission more effectively. You know, protecting and conserving the natural and cultural resources and the wild life therein and serving the public. None of this seems to be about that.

"The [National Park Service] Organic Act that was established by the Congress way back in 1916 is still the guiding principle, as is the Redwoods Act, which says that nothing shall be done in derogation to park values. Those considerations it doesn't appear to me are being considered."