The National Park Service has been authorized to rehire the nearly 1,000 probationary positions that were cut from National Parks nationwide on February 14th.
The six probationary Ranger positions at Joshua Tree National Park that were terminated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in February will be offered their positions back, according to the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and a source within Joshua Tree National Park. The terminations were part of nearly 1,000 positions that were affected at National Parks, Forests and Monuments across the country. Those probationary hires included Park Rangers, law enforcement, firefighters, and other positions that the NPCA says are essential for parks, especially as the first day of spring signals the start of the busiest season here in the hi-desert.
Z107.7 caught up with Luke Basulto from the NPCA outside of Rep. Obernolte’s open office hours Thursday (3/20) in Twentynine Palms City Hall. He says that the rehiring is a necessary step that won’t immediately address the most urgent needs at an already understaffed park:
Luke Basulto: “Meanwhile they (DOI) is still working to cut more than 1,000 jobs through the reduction in force, they’re still freezing vacant positions that are being filled. These are still compounding issues that affect our parks, especially parks like Joshua Tree (National Park) that have been continually understaffed. They need to be operating at full capacity.
“It’s just like a town, right? You need everybody doing their job in order for the town to operate correctly. What this does is get us back to where we were, but we need to be doing better… and the Congressman (Obernolte) needs to be doing more.”
Two federal judges on both coasts ruled the terminations were outside the bounds of the law and mandated rehiring. The NPCA report says that the probationary staff who opt for reinstatement will be able to fully return to work and will receive back pay.
In a press release, the NPCA says they welcome the reinstatements but warn that National Parks remain in crisis. The probationary firings were part of a second wave of cuts that hit the Department of the Interior after Trump took office and appointed Elon Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The initial round of cuts took the form of buyout offers for federal employees, along with wide-sweeping policy changes that include limiting purchasing abilities and cuts to essential resources such as office leases and travel expenses.
Z107.7 talked to a source within Joshua Tree National Park who says that charge cards for the National Park Service have been capped at one dollar. Recurring payments to vendors have to be moved to another payment system which has been delaying payments to local businesses as well as larger companies like Starlink, which is Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service provider.
Our source also says that since the six Rangers were fired on February 14th, there has been a reduction in Fee Technician Rangers able to accept credit card payments at the busy west gate, lengthening the lines and slowing entry during the start of the busy season.
Last year over 3,000,000 people visited Joshua Tree National Park, which contains over 1200 square miles of Mojave and Colorado desert wilderness.
There hasn’t been a timeline set for the rehiring of the six rangers, and Z107.7 will keep you updated as the story develops further.
