The National Park Service will resume hiring seasonal workers after a freeze on hiring for the positions — which are crucial to operations during the upcoming busy season — prompted nationwide outcry.

The Department of the Interior this week sent a memo to park leaders stating that they could hire 7,700 seasonal employees for the year — up from the 6,300 positions hired in recent years, according to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of the memo.

The department, which oversees the park service, had not made any public announcement about seasonal hiring as of Friday afternoon. Other media outlets have reported on the likely reversal of the decision to rescind seasonal positions in recent days.

A worker at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve told The Denver Post on Friday that park officials had received verbal approval to hire seasonal positions for the summer. The worker spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared for the safety of her job.

The National Park Service did not respond to a request for comment from The Post about the apparent change in seasonal hiring plans. A spokeswoman for Rocky Mountain National Park — Colorado’s busiest park — referred questions to the national staff.

A freeze on all federal hiring implemented Jan. 20 by new President Donald Trump’s administration panicked parks advocates and workers, as The Post reported this week. The freeze is part of an ongoing broad effort by the administration to slash the size of the federal workforce. It also has initiated mass firings across federal agencies, including public lands agencies such as the park service and the U.S. Forest Service.

Seasonal workers are the backbone of the parks during their busiest months, advocates said. Their responsibilities are wide-ranging and include cleaning restrooms, providing visitor services, collecting entry fees and keeping visitors safe.

Advocates worried that parks would close visitor centers, trails and campgrounds if seasonal workers could not be hired.

In Colorado, the park service manages four national parks covering 713 square miles: Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde. The service also manages three historic sites, five national monuments and a national recreation area.

Staffing impacts felt in Colorado

The ability to hire seasonal positions is a relief to park employees at Great Sand Dunes but doesn’t cover the loss of two full-time, permanent rangers as part of the mass firings last week, said the worker who spoke with The Post. The Trump administration fired about 1,000 permanent National Park Service employees who were probationary, which means they were newly hired or newly promoted.

The two rangers made up half of the team that collected fees, the worker said, and the loss of the positions could impact the remaining staff’s ability to manage entrance lines and the campground and to collect the fees that support the park’s operation. The park employs about 30 full-time employees, who are tasked with managing more than a half million visitors every year over an expanse of 232 square miles.

“We don’t want people to have a miserable or unsafe time in the parks,” she said. “We’re also very worried about protecting the natural and cultural resources of the parks themselves.”

Officials at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, which is managed by the park service, on Thursday announced they would close the park two days a week.

“Due to a lack of staffing,” a monument employee wrote on Facebook, the site will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays starting in the coming week. On those days, “there will be no access to the visitor center, trailhead parking or public restrooms.”

About 35 miles west of Colorado Springs, Florissant Fossil Beds attracted 63,739 visitors in 2023 and is home to “one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world,” according to the park’s website.

It was unclear from the monument’s announcement whether the closures were connected to the Trump administration’s staffing changes. A woman who answered the park’s phone referred a Post reporter to the park service’s national office.

A public affairs officer at Mesa Verde did the same when asked if any changes in access were planned. Emails to spokespeople at Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon of the Gunnison went unreturned.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado introduced an amendment to the Senate Fiscal Year 2025 budget resolution that would have reinstated about 5,500 employees of the National Park Service, the Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management who had been fired in recent days. It was voted down Thursday night in a close vote.

“Dealing with a lot of unknowns”

The hiring freeze, firings and overall instability in staffing mean federal employees are not getting much sleep, the Great Sand Dunes worker said. Even as seasonal hiring appears to be resuming, staff members worry the administration could change course again and yank back job offers a second time.

“There’s absolutely no certainty in what’s coming. Things are changing what feels like hourly some days,” she said. “Everyone’s wondering what or who’s next.”

The worker hoped that visitors to parks this summer would be understanding of any potential changes they might experience. Parks lovers should reach out to their congressional representatives to advocate for the parks and their workers, she said.

“We want to protect our parks. We want you to enjoy your visits. That’s why we joined the park service to begin with,” she said. “We’re dealing with a lot of unknowns, a lot of chaos, and we’re just trying to do the best we can. Please be kind.”