Arches National Park closes famed Fiery Furnace due to staff shortage
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The Fiery Furnace rock formations at Arches National Park. Photo: Jon G. Fuller/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Arches National Park has stopped issuing permits for its popular Fiery Furnace area after President Trump's upheaval of the NPS left the park understaffed during the busy spring break season.
The big picture: The Fiery Furnace is a dramatic, labyrinthine cluster of rock fins and hoodoos — a fragile landscape that was degrading from overuse before permits were implemented in the 1990s.
- The park has typically allowed about 100 visitors a day to explore the site, spring through fall.
Driving the news: Arches announced Sunday it was discontinuing permits for the site "until further notice."
- "Normally, [seasonal workers] would have been here by this time, and we could have offered those services, but that got a little delayed this year," park spokesperson Karen Henker told Axios.
Catch up quick: The Trump administration laid off about 1,000 NPS employees and implemented a hiring freeze in February, rescinding job offers to about 5,000 seasonal workers.
- After public outcry, those offers were reinstated — and more than 2,000 seasonal positions were added.
- But the reversal came too late for parks in warmer climates, including Arches, to recover all the employees they'd previously hired in time for the busy spring break travel rush.
How it works: To visit the Fiery Furnace, visitors could previously take a guided ranger tour — open to 14 to 42 guests per day — or snag one of 75 daily permits for self-guided hikes.
- Self-guided permits still require a video and briefing with a ranger because visitors are so prone to disorientation and becoming lost.
What they're saying: Both options are "staff-intensive," Henker said.
- "That's not something we're able to do right at the moment, given the uptick in seasonal visitation already and just how busy that front desk is, until we get some more hands."
Zoom out: Terminated full-time employees were reinstated by court orders last week. But getting them back into the parks is likely to be difficult for the same reason seasonal workers didn't immediately materialize after their offers were restored in February.
- Many national park gateway communities face housing shortages, and employees may have found other jobs while their NPS positions were in limbo.
Meanwhile, National Parks Traveler and the Houston Chronicle reported last week that the Trump administration had gone back and forth on following the court orders as it weighed possible appeals.
- Politico reported Monday that the NPS now plans to begin to bring its employees back to work — right as Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a court order reinstating federal workers.
What we're watching: How long it takes the parks to get their seasonal staffers back onto the trails and in visitors centers.
- Henker said she couldn't provide a "firm date" when full staffing was expected "because of how hiring happened this year. Start dates are a bit stretched out."
- Trump's firings at some parks included human resources employees — the people who normally hire and train seasonal workers. That could further delay staff onboarding.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include new information on Trump's request to the Supreme Court.