Saguaro National Park is back to its normal hours of operation, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum aims to keep it that way, regardless of ongoing cuts to the federal workforce.
Burgum issued an order Thursday requiring top officials from the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior to sign off on any proposed closures or reductions in hours that might impact visitor services at individual parks.
The intent of the so-called “secretarial order” is to keep all national parks and historic sites “open and accessible for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people,” Burgum wrote.
To ensure that the Park Service is providing “the best customer service experience for all visitors,” he wants any changes to a park’s established amenities or hours of operation to be reviewed in advance by the Park Service director and the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks.
Some ramadas at Saguaro National Park East once had a higher purpose.
But advocates for the parks and their employees question how already-understaffed park sites can comply with such an order in the midst of mass firings, retirement buyouts, a hiring freeze and whatever comes next.
“The NPS has lost somewhere near 1,500 permanent employees since the beginning of this year, and the (agency) is bracing for another reduction in force expected in the very near future,” said Rick Mossman, president of the Marana-based nonprofit Association of National Park Rangers.
Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Colorado-based conservation group Center for Western Priorities, called Burgum’s order “a hollow and cynical attempt to save face amid the outrage from the public about the harm the Trump administration is inflicting to not only national parks, but the communities across the country that depend on them for economic survival.”
A new order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum aims to keep national parks from reducing their visitor services or hours of operation in response to ongoing federal workforce cuts.
She said the Interior secretary can’t simply paper over the “indiscriminate and cruel across-the-board cuts” by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“As a former businessman, Doug Burgum should know that the numbers on ‘America’s balance sheet’ don’t add up when it comes to mandating that parks and services remain operational without the personnel and resources to do so,” Rokala said in a written statement. “This order wouldn’t even be necessary if Elon Musk’s DOGE personnel at Interior weren’t in the process of actively dismantling the agency from the inside out.”
In late February, Saguaro National Park began closing its two visitor centers on Mondays, after the Trump administration fired more than 24,000 probationary government employees, including at least two at the Tucson park.
Those workers have since been reinstated by two federal court rulings. Saguaro resumed daily operations at its visitor centers on March 31, before Burgum issued his directive.
Park advocates said they still don’t know how to interpret parts of the secretary’s order, especially the section that says the Interior Department “shall take action to ensure that NPS is properly staffed to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit.”
“We hope this means that park visitors will no longer experience some of the impacts from limited staffing that have been recently reported,” Mossman said. “However, we still suggest that visitors plan ahead and make every effort to determine what they can expect when they get to the parks, so they won’t be surprised or disappointed.”
The Red Hills Visitor Center at Saguaro National Park is open seven days a week again, and a new order by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum intends to keep it that way, despite the Trump administration’s ongoing cuts to the federal workforce.
