As a 501(c)3, the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals strives to support our members and the broader outdoor recreation community regardless of political affiliation. Outdoor recreation has strong bipartisan support in the U.S. The recent passage of the EXPLORE Act and other legislation such as the Great American Outdoors Act are evidence that access to the outdoors are important to people from all walks of life. However, several of President Trump’s Executive Orders (E.O.) and other policies have a great impact on both individuals within our community and the ability for our community to plan, manage and provide outdoor recreation opportunities for all.
More than half of SORP members work for a federal land or water management agency such as the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, or U.S. Forest Service. As a former federal employee myself, I can safely say that any government employee will strongly agree that the agencies can and should be more efficient and strategic in their work. But approaches that are focused on significantly and unilaterally reducing the federal workforce are shortsighted. For example, the February 11 E.O. titled Implementing DOGE Workforce Optimization Initiative includes:
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The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit a plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition (Plan). The Plan shall require that each agency hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart, consistent with the plan and any applicable exemptions and details provided for in the Plan.
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Agency Heads shall promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law, and to separate from Federal service temporary employees and reemployed annuitants working in areas that will likely be subject to the RIFs. All offices that perform functions not mandated by statute or other law shall be prioritized in the RIFs, including all agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; all agency initiatives, components, or operations that my Administration suspends or closes; and all components and employees performing functions not mandated by statute or other law who are not typically designated as essential during a lapse in appropriations as provided in the Agency Contingency Plans on the Office of Management and Budget website.
On January 28th federal employees received an email titled “Fork in the Road” encouraging them to resign. Many employees on probationary status (which is put in place for new hires and employees hired under certain authorities even if they are tenured federal employees) started receiving layoff notices on February 13th; the USFS laid off 3,400 employees across all programs and the NPS laid off 1,000 and around 400 for the BLM (this number does not include those that have resigned or retired since Trump took office). And as we know from past furloughs (when federal government funding lapses before Congress passes a budget), essential employees for these agencies only include line officers (such as a forest supervisor or park superintendent), law enforcement officers, and a handful of administrative positions. People who issue special use permits, conduct environment analysis, build and maintain trails, provide educational and interpretive programs, and keep recreation sites and facilities in safe and operable condition are not deemed essential. In addition, the current hiring freezes for both permanent and seasonal federal employees mean that there will be greatly reduced staffing at visitor centers and other positions that directly interact with the public, support health and safety, and respond to accidents and natural disasters including wildfire.
A February 6th presidential memorandum directs each agency to scrutinize federal funding for nonprofit organizations to ensure the funding “shall align future funding decisions with the interests of the United States and with the goals and priorities of my Administration, as expressed in executive actions; as otherwise determined in the judgment of the heads of agencies; and on the basis of applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms.”
What does this mean for the broader outdoor recreation professional community? First, we can expect that some federal recreation facilities and areas will have reduced hours or be closed altogether. Yosemite National Park, for example, has paused reservations for access to the park this summer indefinitely. Beyond reduced government staffing, many federal recreation sites rely on partners, contractors, and concessionaires to operate and maintain these facilities. Without contracting officers and permit administrators to issue and manage the non-governmental activities including payments for services, some of these required operational activities would cease or implement employee layoffs because they cannot pay them. Agency partners such as trail organizations, youth corps, states, county and local governments, and other nonprofits are not guaranteed federal funding that likely depend on to complete operations, maintenance, and stewardship projects. While the funding freeze has been lifted by court order, partners can expect a backlog in processing reimbursement requests for work already completed.
We can also expect an increase in recreation use and demand on state, county and local recreation and trail facilities due to closures. In areas that are difficult to close such as large areas of national forest or BLM lands, we can expect reduced presence and management activities to ensure stewardship of natural and cultural resources. We can anticipate an increase in user conflicts, frustration with inability to access public lands, and an increase in off-trail use, camping in undesignated areas, and unattended campfires. We can expect that the comprehensive assessment of recreation data, accessibility of trails, permitting improvements, and other ways to improve access to outdoor recreation identified in the EXPLORE Act will not be addressed by federal agencies in the near future.
SORP is committed to supporting federal employees, partners, contractors, and nonprofit organizations and raising awareness of the impacts of unilateral government layoffs on outdoor recreation and the environment. We ask that our community do the same thing by talking to your organization about these impacts and taking action to make sure that Congress and policy makers at state and local levels understand how the federal workforce reductions impact access to the outdoors, the outdoor recreation economy, and most importantly conservation of natural and cultural resources. This issue affects all of us, our lands and waters, and the people who have committed themselves to public service.