Record-breaking visitation, especially during the pandemic, stretches the staff thin. Each year, this agency loses employees. What happens when the changing climate calls for all-hands-on-deck situations?

By Gitanjali Poonia

Cami McKinney was around 8 years old when her mother took her to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Spanning 400 miles — the longest in the world — the cave system has a variety of tours, exploring different parts. McKinney had her eyes set on the Snowball Room, named for the round-shaped calcium carbonate formations on the ceiling, where backpackers can grab refreshments.

“When you grow up, Cami, you can go all the way down there,” her mother said, and the young girl hoped she would.

“I was raised in a national park family,” she said, and that means hiking the trails was a common occurrence, as was a yearly trip to a national park like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Another time, her mother suggested an impromptu family trip to a nearby national monument.

“My memory tells me that she got us up in the morning and said, ‘I know what would be fun to do with our family — Let’s go to Timpanogos Cave,’” she told me over the phone. 

McKinney, who has worked for the National Parks Service for over 25 years, is now a program manager at this Utah cave monument and a photo from that time sits on her desk. “That kind of behavior is long in our past,” she confessed. “Visiting national parks takes a lot more planning than it may have in the past.” 

Now, the Timpanogos caves offer a limited number of tours and tickets selling weeks ahead of time during the busy summer months. While people are more prepared to be in nature, with their hiking gear and water bottles, “there’s a lot of wonderful things about being able to just stumble on a wonderful outdoor experience,” that isn’t as common anymore.

A big reason is record-breaking visitation, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, stretching the staff thin. Each year, the National Parks Service loses employees. But this chronic problem becomes more pressing when the changing climate calls for all-hands-on-deck situations.

https://www.deseret.com/2023/2/11/23574858/what-it-takes-to-be-a-park-ranger