TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — After the Trump administration fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees last week to cut government spending, Saguaro National Park is already feeling the impact.
Two permanent staff members who worked at the visitor center were terminated, according to Fred Stula, executive director of Friends of Saguaro National Park, a nonprofit partner of the park.
"The reason that I know that is because they're both former 'next gens' that actually reached out to me to tell me that their positions had been terminated," Stula said.
Stula explained that the "Next Gen" program prepares interns to enter the park workforce. Despite the firings, Friends of Saguaro is offering contract work to those employees, whom Stula says never received a two-week notice of their termination.
"There's been a lot of time and effort and personal effort invested in them," Stula said. "To just have them not be able to continue something that they're very passionate about and love, that's something that wasn’t OK for Friends and for our board."
Now, the visitor center is closed on Mondays and open six days a week instead of seven.
Thousands of probationary U.S. Forest Service workers across the country, as well, have been fired as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal workforce.
"I've never seen anything like it," said longtime Tucson resident Chantelle Khambholja, who hikes whenever she can, often alongside tourists. Though the closure of the visitor center doesn't mean the park is closed, she worries about the safety implications for the millions of visitors who are unfamiliar with the harsh desert environment.
The park saw 1,010,906 recreation visits logged by the National Park Service in 2023, the third most in Saguaro’s 90-year history, first as a national monument, then a national park.
“They're not used to this kind of heat, and my concern is that it’s going to become a public health problem in the summer when it’s really hot, and there are people who are unprepared for the weather and don’t know much about the animals we have here, like rattlesnakes and Gila monsters,” Khambholja said, referring to the absence of a visitor center with park rangers.
She says the visitor center provides valuable resources on how to stay safe on the trails.
"Every time I've ever driven through a National Park, they've been so helpful in educating me about trail conditions, giving me a map of the park if I don't have one, giving me a heads-up about weather conditions in the area, especially if I'm not from there," she said.
However, on Tuesday, though the visitor center was open, even the fee ranger was absent, a result of the ongoing understaffing issue at Saguaro.
The National Park Service has announced plans to hire up to 7,700 seasonal workers this year. However, Stula emphasized that while it's a step in the right direction, this would not replace the loss of year-round staff.
“They can help increase the capacity and help the park achieve a lot of their goals. But it's not a replacement for permanent staff,” he said.
He referred to an example at Saguaro, where permanent employees run the environmental education program.
"Having a relationship with a school on a year-to-year basis, to know who to reach out to for a transportation reimbursement, who to reach out to to schedule a hiking club program or a field trip, those are really important kinds of institutional things where seasonal employees aren't able to provide that same kind of continuity of service," Stula said.
For hikers like Khambholja, the hope is that the next trail leads to change.
“I don’t think that they should have lost their jobs. As a citizen, I think for us it’s important to hold leadership accountable. Our representatives, get them involved and get some action on the parks,” Khambholja said.
KGUN 9 reached out to the National Park Service and did not receive a response.
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Maria Staubs joined KGUN 9 as a multimedia journalist and producer in July of 2024. Her passion for writing and storytelling stems from anchoring her middle school’s news show and editing her high school’s yearbook. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communication with a minor in film and media production, as well as a master's degree in mass communication. You can email Maria at maria.staubs@kgun9.com or reach out to her on X/Twitter or Instagram.
