Staffing levels at the United States National Park Service were slashed just as the busy summer season swung into action. While shoestring budgets are nothing new to the federal organization, the steep staffing reductions and proposed funding cuts recently made by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration are coming on the heels of a surge in visitors.

“Almost 332 million people visited national parks in 2024, a record-setting number,” Elizabeth Silkes, the CEO of the Grand Canyon Conservancy, told TriplePundit. “That just shows that — whatever your political perspective is, whatever your lived experiences — these are people from all walks of life, who really flock to our public lands in national parks.”

Even Before Cuts, National Parks Needed Partners like the Grand Canyon Conservancy

The conservancy helps the Grand Canyon National Park stretch its already slim budget with funding and programming support. It provides funds for preservation and restoration efforts like bison conservation and trail and building maintenance, for example, Silkes said. It also raises money for research efforts on the Colorado River, which runs through the canyon, and investigations into how climate change impacts the plants and animals that call the canyon home.

“We provide support for some of the programs that are perhaps not funded directly through the federal grants,” she said, regarding the work of the Grand Canyon Conservancy.

The park’s youth educational program is another example. The rangers who run the program are paid by the National Park Service, but the conservancy tackles the transportation side, raising funds to bus schoolchildren in from surrounding areas, Silkes said. It’s ultimately the collaboration between the park and the conservancy that makes the program possible.

Pivoting Support to Augment Slim Staffing

While the deep federal funding cuts threaten park access and maintenance, the administration is still demanding that parks continue business as usual. That’s a tall order for the already understaffed parks.

“We are looking at how we can leverage what we're doing already to provide support so visitors don't see any sort of shift in experience, while still creating opportunities for visitors to understand how valuable the work of the park staff and the park rangers is to them,” Silkes said.

Read the full article about federal cuts to National Parks by Riya Anne Polcastro at TriplePundit.