SPRINGDALE, Utah — What one elected official is describing as a crisis is brewing at one of Utah's most popular attractions after 100 people offered seasonal jobs at Zion National Park saw them rescinded in the last few days as part of the Trump administration's efforts to slash government spending.
A backup of cars attempting to get inside the park on President's Day was caused by only one or two people manning the booths up front.
"It really affects Springdale a lot because even on a not-so-busy day, we get backups through town that makes it impossible for people who live along the route to the park to get home," explained Springdale Mayor Barbara Bruno.
The town of about 600 people sits just outside the south entrance to the park.
Seasonable employees and other hires normally double the park’s workforce for its busy season, but this year, the park will need to get by with a smaller staff than it had in the winter.
"If it's the employees that are gone, I'm not sure how the park could stay open," Bruno said. "It would be chaos in there."
Last year, Zion had 90 percent more visitors than 10 years ago with 11 percent less staff.
"I don't believe that this park was overstaffed. In fact, it's been understaffed," added the mayor.
Resolution will allow Utah to co-manage national parks:
Bruno says it was communicated to her by park officials that the main priorities will be visitor and employee safety, as well as parking. The park's shuttles will not be affected as that service is staffed by an outside contractor.
Victor Carrasco was visiting with his children from Los Angeles on Monday and went car to car at the park's entry trying to sell his day pass. He and his kids had less use for it after many services were closed to visitors.
"We literally had an experience for like 10 options, we only did like four," he said. "I mean, you can still have a good time, especially that bridge, but other than that, you're cutting it short."
While Bruno acknowledges that visitors will still come, she wonders if the experience will be the same.
"The park needed more funding anyway. There's a lot of deferred maintenance that hasn't been done," she said. "It's the second-most visited park in the country, and if that's not worth preserving and throw some money at, I'm not sure what is."
