Yellowstone Fully Staffed for Summer Despite Government Cuts, Says Park Chief
Yellowstone National Park kicked off its summer season Friday with Park Superintendent Cam Sholly personally greeting visitors at the entrance gates.
Despite concerns about federal cutbacks, Sholly shared good news about staffing levels. “About 360 of a planned 390 seasonal rangers are already hired”, he said, adding that remaining contracts would be approved soon and numbers might even increase.
The popular national park appears ready for a busy season, writes MTN News, which reported a strong turnout for opening day with approximately 140 vehicles in line – about 20 percent more than last year.
Fork in the Road offer
While 13 permanent employees took the ‘Fork in the Road’ offer and will be leaving, Sholly noted that five of those workers were already planning to retire.
West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce President Katrina Wise was at the entrance handing out free muffins to waiting visitors. She mentioned that few people have expressed concerns about service disruptions due to federal job cuts.
Unusual issue
Wise did highlight one unusual issue: “We’ve had a lot of weird concerns about the AI stuff that’s been going on lately with the weird pictures of all the bears on the road or the bison running out. And so we just want to reiterate to people that those are all fake pictures.”
Most visitors interviewed weren’t worried about potential staffing issues. Longtime visitor Tim Spillers from northern Louisiana said, “No, sir, that isn’t that isn’t going to worry me at all.”
California visitor Mark Slaughter expressed similar confidence: “Everything’s still going to be fine. You know, staffing has always been on the minimal side anyway. Here they’ve always been underfunded, and staff has spread pretty thin.”
Against expectations, Sholly stated that Yellowstone will actually have more seasonal workers this year than during any of the past five years.
