Interior Secretary Doug Burgum defended his firing of more than 1,000 park rangers as an effort to shrink government to the “right size,” in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.
The secretary, who was also named President Donald Trump’s energy czar, said the National Park Service is planning to hire 5,000 people to fill temporary jobs to man parks during the busy summer season — seemingly recognizing the criticism that reducing NPS staff will leave skeleton crews to staff the nation’s parks just as visitation spikes with warmer weather.
“We’re just in the process right now of posting 5,000 summer jobs,” Burgum said in the interview. “You want to start a career in the park service? Go apply for a job.”
The interview comes on the heels of an internal Interior Department memo, viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News, that directs the NPS to “immediately” commence hiring of up to 7,700 seasonal employees in various entry-level park ranger roles. That figure, in contrast to the 5,000 number mentioned by Burgum, is more in line with the number of seasonal employees hired each year to staff parks.
