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Haleakalā National Park Seeking Employee Housing To Lease

Apr 23rd - 15:50pm | Maleko Tanaka

Haleakala is indeed a difficult housing market.  Hard to recruit and retain qualified candidates for park employment since the park is at the top of a volcano, in a resort area, with near highest gas prices in the nation, no public transportation, and the park is relatively small in acerage as far as National Parks go.

New Mission For Bureau Of Land Management Expected To Restore Lands, Benefit National Parks

Apr 23rd - 14:21pm | chris...

"(b) Eligible Participants.--An individual shall be eligible for selection for the national climate service program if the individual is, or will be, at least 17 years of age on or before December 31 of the calendar year in which the individual enrolls in the program, regardless of immigration status.  

Apr 23rd - 07:48am | Chris…

All of them. Bidens, " clinate corps" opens our public lands to be auctioned off the not for profits run throgh the "Great Basin institute " the jobs are open to non citizens.   Federal lands now worked by non citizens 

Apr 23rd - 00:54am | Mike B.

Chris, which lands are you alleging have been sold off?

Apr 19th - 10:05am | chris...

So they will plant trees to "'sequester" carbon for the benefit of profits. Meanwhile our govt has been starting "controlled" burns to clear swaths of previously healthy forest to be replanted.   How nice of them to sell off our public lands like this

Reader Participation Day: Best National Park Restaurant

Apr 23rd - 13:33pm | BuffaloGirlKS

My husband, our teenage daughter, and I were eating dinner at dusk next to the windows in the dining room at Yellowstone's Lake Hotel.  The waiter heard us wishing our daughter Happy Birthday.  Unbeknownst to us, he brought her a huge slice of chocolate cake with a candle on it and had other wait staff join him to sing Happy Birthday to her.

Apr 19th - 05:53am | Hope Haberer

I am usually in total awe of the interior of National Park Lodge restaurants and I don't even remember the food. Incediibly thankfull for the CCC and other groups who deigned and did the work who beautiful natural materials.

Apr 17th - 17:23pm | Becki Poling

Two meals - and parks - immediately come to mind.  The smoked salmon hash topped with poached eggs I had at Kalaoch Lodge in Olympic National Park was amazing.  And the elk steak I had at Far View Lodge at Mesa Verde was equally wonderful.  

Apr 17th - 16:51pm | plainview

Metate Room at Mesa Verde.  Nothing else comes close out of the 20 + NP units I have been privilged to visit. (although El Tovar was quite enjoyable too)

Apr 17th - 15:26pm | Walter

So far the best we've had has been Jordan Pond House in Acadia (You absolutely must try their popovers, and if you get the chance try their fish chowder/stew.  I also got a special once where their meatloaf had bacon, it was amazing!).  Lake Crescent Lodge in Olympic and Paradise Inn in Mt Rainier also had really really great dinners too.  Dont miss out on either!

Apr 17th - 15:03pm | Michael Kozy

My most memorable meal at a National Park was when we hiked rim to rim at the Grand Canyon. There were eight of us who started from the north rim to the bottom of canyon where we endured temperatures of 120 F. After spending two interesting nights at the Phantom Ranch we hiked out of the canyon to the south rim. Our party of eight had dinner reservations at the Ell Tovar restaurant.

Judge Returns Caneel Bay Resort At Virgin Islands National Park To Interior Department

Apr 23rd - 13:11pm | Phillip R Bailey

Best of all possible outcomes to an audacious lawsuit! Let's hope any appeal fails as well.

Apr 23rd - 12:40pm | Michael Kellett

Great news! Thanks Kurt.

BLM Intends To Block Mine Access Road Through Gates Of The Arctic National Park

Apr 23rd - 08:06am | Chris…

All this oil yet Biden won't replace the Travelocity oil he sold off to keep gasoline costs low Ashe gutted the industry. Who produce oil in spite of this presidency. Tell my it's a good idea to guy copper production while commutiing to international wars?

Apr 23rd - 00:51am | Mike B.

Chris, last year the US produced more oil and gas than any other country in Earth's history  We are a petroleum exporting country.

Apr 19th - 10:12am | chris...

Meanwhile we will source foreign copper produce in a much more negative fashion for the enviornment at cost to the American people.  This is the latest stratigic blunder by the Biden regime.  We are also lacking a stratigic oil reserve as it sits half empty while they gut domestic production of oil while complaining oil costs are too high to refill the reserves. 

Apr 19th - 08:07am | Cutta Rug

Why couldn't it be an American mining company trying to trash American land and destroy vital migration corridors rather than an elite weatlthy foreign outfit tring to colonize us? How un-American. Must tip my hat to the BLM today. We can do better.

Op-Ed | Privilege: A Required Qualification To Work With The National Park Service

Apr 22nd - 09:27am | LOL

So many priveleged angry old white men commenting here. Hilarious...and yet disturbingly out of touch with reality.

Apr 21st - 19:09pm | No Name

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Apr 19th - 08:42am | P. N. Gwynn

We're being virtue-signaled by someone who only worked for NPS for a year? I guess National Parks Traveler has become an extension of the NPS employee Facebook group.

Apr 18th - 21:40pm | Christopher

I agree that USAJobs could do better at explaining what they are looking for and the tests (which to be fair are only required for certain jobs) seem to ask for irrelevant skills.  Not sure what you can do about relocation though.  As in any other line of work you sometimes move to where the job is and being a ranger means being on site and thus living nearby.  What gets me are the times I've n

Apr 18th - 18:23pm | ecbuck

Conditions are so bad yet they take the job anyway.  You want higher pay and lower cost accomadations, don't work there for anything less.  If your labor is that valuable someone will pay it.

Apr 18th - 16:01pm | Ben from Virginia

This article bothers me. The National Park Service uses special hiring authorities, approved from OPM, to hire urban youth and minorities to permanent jobs. They have an NPS executive to review exclusively minority applications to ensure they meet qualifications. The Office of Personnel Management has even increased the pay for these entry-level permanent positions to GS-09/11 maximum rates.

Apr 18th - 14:58pm | Mather Forever

Never let the Service become just another.... The wokeness has finally won I guess.  

Apr 18th - 13:41pm | chris...

I was a NPS trail worker.  Not sure what job "ranger" would refer to as the only "ranger" I knew of were LEO's. There is some backcountry rangers but they are titled as such.   I am not sure a sceince based position in the parks qualifies you as a "ranger" 

Apr 18th - 13:18pm | Caden Wilson

My studio apartment in my park is $150 more a month than my student loans. A one-bedroom in our gateway town starts at $1750. I feel like my life is falling apart.  

Apr 18th - 13:16pm | Caden Wilson

Nail on the head. I'm not sure what some of the other comments are trying to say, and most of them obviously have not been rangers. This year we had a 5% pay raise and 6% rent increase, so I'm making less than last year. I'm not sure if I have enough money for gas to make it from my winter to summer parks.

Apr 18th - 12:56pm | Anonymous

THe NPS needs to find a way to make park housing affordable. If housing rates are tied to the local economy, then park housing takes up an inordinate amount of the paycheck for a lower level employee.

Apr 18th - 10:45am | Paul S.

This article reads like the author already had an opinion and then simply cherry-picked nuggets of data and other opinionated sources (e.g.- high country news; anpr.org) to support their point of view.

Apr 18th - 10:09am | A. Johnson

"create better opportunities for candidates from underrepresented groups, and create entry-level positions that pay a living wage. While the agency claims it is working towards creating a more inclusive workforce, the NPS will only meet this goal once this issue of privilege is addressed."  

Apr 18th - 07:26am | Chris…

Work a trail crew.    Had a Rhodes scholar and an orphan on the crew one year  so privlaged- we had no uniform... did a "log run" one year and worked sunup to sundown for no overtime pay...  

Remains Of Man Who Went Missing At Mesa Verde National Park Found

Apr 22nd - 02:32am | Vivien

C'est fou vous etiez sur place? Pourtant votre pays a un grand nombre de sauveteurs ( benevoles ou professionnels) dommages que le parc soir Restreint :/ car a ecouter un doc francais il y avait le lundi 10 juin il y avait 70 chercheurs a pied et a cheval et un helicoptere ( peut-etre que le youtubeur a de fsux chiffres

Apr 22nd - 02:18am | Vivi60

Bonjour nous vivons en France exactement le meme cas avec le petit Emile ( qui a etait retrouve ( sont crane) a 2kms du point se depart... il ya meme eu un ancien major de la cia de votre pays qui avait donne la localisation ( via un don de voyance) ...   2024 France  et super votre description de l'affaire je suis d'accord avec vous sur tout les points 

The National Parks' Lodging Problem

Apr 22nd - 00:30am | S Mitch

Would it be too cynical of me to point out that the entry restrictions being implemented at many National Parks will make lodging inside the Parks more valuable...and pricey?   I agree that this is a huge problem...you can't tell the American public that these are "Your National Parks" when most Americans can no longer obtain affordable access to them.  

National Park Service Approves Concessionaire Transfer At Crater Lake National Park

Apr 21st - 12:26pm | A. Johnson

A US Senator makes a fuss in December, and a contract is nullified and a new concessionaire is selected, all within 5 months? I'm not sure that one senator should have so much sway over the NPS.

Traveler's View: No One's Talking

Apr 20th - 13:31pm | LE Ranger

I just went through the EEO complaint process that went to mediation. The settlement authority involved was biased but I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to negatiy affect my outcome. The settlement authority had no idea what reasonable accommodations meant and what a an employer is required to give a disable employee. He was the deputy sup too. This is the disconnect with NPS.

Apr 19th - 11:25am | Maschelle Zia

Chris, your comment is spot on. Power abuse doesn't only happen to females and minorities. It's rampant throughout NPS and its history. I know plenty of white men who've been deeply injured by a supervisor that NPS protected. If folks have done their research though, the decades of EEO, OIG, and even the NPS' own studies they bury, report that women in particular have endured the most harm.

Apr 18th - 19:55pm | Anonymous retir...

The regional offices need to hold superintendents accountable. Why is it ok for a superintendent to come into a park with staff that have worked in that area for years and suddenly everyone starts applying out or quitting. That is not a good thing typically. Why can't region see it?  There is an obvious pattern that happens when these horrible unethical outright fraudsters start gutting parks.

Apr 18th - 15:19pm | chris...

Maschelle- it sounds like you are angry you were wronged by the NPS.  I was too for a long time.  It sucks working hard for a job you love only to find protections lacking.

Apr 18th - 14:21pm | Maschelle Zia

"It's bound to be inaccurate" doesn't provide much credence. Nor does being anonymous.

Apr 18th - 09:18am | Anonymous

 White males can be very frustrated observing they don't get opportunities that they think should be there for them because females and people of color are getting those opportunities.    This is nothing short of sexist and racist.  There are plenty of bad actors of all sexes and colors.  

Apr 17th - 14:57pm | Maschelle Zia

Well stated.

Apr 17th - 10:56am | Anonymous

I was harassed for years by a supervisor who consistently sabotaged my career development and would take punitive actions regularly but received minimal consequences after I filed complaints which were validated.

Apr 17th - 10:33am | Ghost of Stephe...

Failure of leadership!  It always comes down to leadership, or lack thereof.  NPS culture is indeed the overriding problem.  The NPS leadership culture is compliance to authority, in a self-serving way.

Kobuk River Listed As One Of The Country's Most Endangered Rivers

Apr 19th - 21:24pm | George Bogenschutz

Leave it as The Lord made it!

Reader Participation Day: Rating The Top Concessionaires

Apr 19th - 19:09pm | Buffalogirlks

We love staying in the National Parks, but in the last few years it has become so expensive and difficult to find lodging (even 1-2 years in advance) that we have been forced to stay outside the parks.  Among the many at which we have stayed, we will always have special memories of Grand Tetons' Jackson Lake Lodge, Yellowstone's Lake Hotel,  and most especiallly, Glacier's Apgar Village Inn.

Waiting For Whales At Cape Spear Lighthouse

Apr 19th - 16:22pm | Jennifer Bain

St.

Apr 19th - 15:15pm | Lynn P

I thought Miquelon/St Pierre, France is a european country? So not sure if Cape Spear is the closest Canadian spot to Europe. 

Legislation Calls For Expansion Of Joshua Tree National Park, Creation Of Chuckwalla National Monument

Apr 17th - 15:29pm | Bob Bolin

Most of the coverage centered on supportive comments from tribal leaders - it's weird that National Parks Traveler did not.

Inside The Battle To Save The Cats That Call San Juan National Historic Site Home

Apr 17th - 15:20pm | Blake

One of the highlights of us visiting Puerto Rico has always been stopping to see the Gatos. We're here now in 2024 and unfortunately they are gone. Very sad for the cats As well as I'm sure the many Visitors who look forward to that as a highlight of their visit.  

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