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Home > Desert Oracle Radio > Federal shutdown may see Joshua Tree National Park employees fired rather than furloughed


	Podcast:		Desert Oracle Radio
	Episode:		Federal shutdown may see Joshua Tree National Park employees fired rather than furloughed
	Category:		Society & Culture
	Duration:		00:00:00
	Publish Date:		2025-09-30 14:50:00
	Description:		Update 9/30/25: Joshua Tree National Park employees have received an email notifying them of the potential shutdown. The impending federal government shutdown may seem familiar with anyone who has paid attention to politics in the last decade. If Congress doesn’t act by midnight tonight, the shutdown will leave the nearly 150,000 federal workers in the state of California waiting to see what will happen with their jobs and benefits. Here in the Morongo Basin those workers include employees at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms as well as Joshua Tree National Park. COVID causes closures at the national parks, but it was the federal shutdown in 2019 that is closest to what could happen today if the political parties don’t make a deal. That shutdown lasted over a month, and the Park used previously collected park fees for some upkeep operations. However, most campgrounds and trails were closed but park gates remained open, creating a trash pile up and a spike in illegal activities like vandalism and off-roading. The shutdown in 2019 lasted 35 days and was the longest federal government closure in the nation’s history. Employees in the park were furloughed and though there was extensive damage and cleanup in the park after the shutdown was lifted, things returned back to normal until COVID hit in 2020. When we reached out to Joshua Tree National Park to see what they were doing to prepare for the latest shutdown, they said “Congress is working through the appropriations process, and we are hopeful that a lapse in appropriations will not occur.” Residents rallied in downtown Joshua Tree in March of 2025 over fired NPS employees. They provided a link to the Department of Interior’s plans for a federal shutdown which was last updated in March of 2024. That document indicates that approximately 68% of its workforce would be furloughed in a shutdown. President Trump has said he may use the shutdown to target things that Democrats care about. One of those things appears to be public lands like national parks. National park employees were among the first federal employees targeted by Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year, and since then the National Park Service has seen a nearly 25% reduction in their workforce. Many of the agencies and government institutions targeted by those earlier job eliminations have had to rehire workers, but the national park workforce remains below staffing levels in most parks. Nearly 3 million people a year visit Joshua Tree National park, and this week the park released some figures that show how much money those visitors bring into the communities that surround national parks. According to the report, in 2024 visitors spent 179 million dollars in those communities, which had a cumulative benefit to the local economy to the tune of 214 million dollars. In the Press Release, Superintendent Jane Rodgers says that “We’re proud to be such an important part of the local economy and simply could not do what we do without the awesome support of our gateway communities and park partners.” During the shutdown in 2019, volunteers teamed up with furloughed park employees to help with upkeep in Joshua Tree National Park. It is highly likely that if the national park gates are kept open but employees are furloughed or fired, our public lands will once again rely on the public for support. The post Federal shutdown may see Joshua Tree National Park employees fired rather than furloughed appeared first on Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree.
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