1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

National Park Service staff are the heartbeat of national parks, and they are essential to the functional operation of the special places that millions of Americans visit every year. Those park visitors drive local economies and support hundreds of thousands of jobs. But now, more than a thousand National Park Service staff have lost their jobs just as visitors are planning their spring break and summer vacations to national parks. These jobs must be immediately restored for the sake of our national parks and our local economies. From guiding hikes to backcountry rescues, trail maintenance to cleaning toilets, and protecting irreplaceable resources at the same time, park staff are already being asked to do more with less. And now, their ranks are being devastated at multiple levels, with very real and frightening implications for the care of parks, the experience of visitors and the integrity of economies that depend on safe, functional and inspiring park experiences. Any cuts to National Park Service staffing could forever change our national parks, and the recent moves by the administration are nothing short of devastating. At this rate, visitors will start being severely impacted in just a few weeks when parks welcome families during spring break. As your constituent, I urge you to speak up on the importance of national parks and the threat of these federal worker directives on national parks.