Workers at Grand Canyon National Park who were laid off as part of sweeping federal workforce cuts were reinstated this week, a spokesperson for the park told ABC15 Arizona.
The reinstatements are the result of rulings by two federal judges, who temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's administration from terminating National Park Service employees — as well as employees with other federal agencies — and ordered their reinstatement.
Ten members of the park's staff received notification they were being laid off on February 14. Four of the employees worked at the South Rim's entrance gate collecting fees, while six others were assigned to the construction of the Transcanyon Waterline replacement.
The waterline rehabilitation project, a $208 million investment by the National Park Service, comes after the 1960s-era line had experienced several major breaks impacting water access throughout the canyon in recent years.
Overall, 1,000 National Park Service employees were let go as part of the Trump Administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to significantly downsize the federal workforce. About one dozen additional employees at Grand Canyon National Park were offered and accepted voluntary retirement, ABC15 is told.
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The federal workforce cuts targeted probationary employees across multiple agencies. In the federal government, workers are labeled probationary if they are new to a specific role, including if they recently had a promotion or a project recently began.
The cuts to Grand Canyon staff have led to reduced open lanes and operating hours at the popular South Rim's entrance gates, where fees are collected, multiple park employees said. Signs demarcating wait times for visitors have been put up at the entrance to manage visitors' expectations for wait times. Even in March, which is not peak season for the park, visitors have been experiencing waits as long as an hour and a half to enter the park.
Currently working through the busy spring break season for Grand Canyon, staff told ABC15 the cuts were being felt deeply in a park that was already understaffed and anxiously awaiting the arrival of seasonal workers in April.
A representative for Grand Canyon National Park did not respond to questions Friday on if the reinstated staff had already begun working, or if they had accepted their jobs back. It remains unclear how long the reinstated staff could keep their roles, as attorneys for the Trump Administration have filed appeals to the judges' rulings.
