National park layoffs hit Everglades, other Florida parks
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Everglades National Park in South Florida reported the highest number of cuts so far. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Staffers at several Florida national parks — including Big Cypress and the Everglades — were laid off following the Trump administration's sweeping cuts to the National Park Service this month.
Why it matters: Layoffs could mean reduced park hours, longer entrance lines and possibly fewer educational visits for young students.
- Tourism to Florida's eight parks, trails and historic sites contributed $871 million to the state's economy in 2023, a federal report released last year shows.
The big picture: The Trump administration is cutting about 1,000 National Park Service and 3,400 Forest Service positions nationwide.
State of play: Exact information about which position has been eliminated at each park remains unclear, Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, told Axios.
- What is clear, though, is those hit hardest were fee collectors and those who staff volunteers, arrange for site visits, like school trips, and oversee park programming, he said.
Zoom in: Everglades National Park in South Florida reported the most cuts, with 12 employees, according to Wade.
- WLRN reported half of the park's research center staff is gone, with three employees cut and another three taking early retirement.
Meanwhile, Biscayne National Park just south of Miami reported three firings and one was reported at Big Cypress National Preserve, east of Naples.
- The fates of other parks are unclear, including Canaveral National Seashore near New Smyrna Beach and De Soto National Memorial just south of St. Petersburg. But that doesn't mean they were spared layoffs, Wade said.
- Two employees were cut at the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, the only dedicated refuge for manatees in the country, under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The latest: On Friday, the Trump administration reversed a hiring freeze for seasonal National Park Service employees, allowing the agency to hire 7,700 workers nationally, an increase from previous years, per ABC News.
The bottom line: Despite the seasonal hires, "a lot of concern" remains among employees, Wade said. "They're worried and stressed about their workload."