GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK — Uriev, Nerina and Tash Ellapen were anxiously tracking the news from their Yellowstone hotel room when it became clear Tuesday night that the United States’ federal government was going to shut down.
Expecting that might happen, the tourist family hailing from South Africa and Germany rearranged its itinerary to ensure they’d be able to hit the best of the best during what was shaping up to be an abbreviated bucket list trip to the world’s first national park, Yellowstone, and the mighty Teton Range. They even eyed nearby alternative designations, like Paradise Valley’s Chico Hot Springs.
But then the gates didn’t swing shut. Tuesday night, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that Yellowstone, Grand Teton and hundreds of other National Park Service properties would remain open during a shutdown — an anticipated, though contested, move that the Trump administration had made previously, during the 2019 shutdown.
Two days later, the Ellapens were at Jenny Lake, relishing a glorious fall day during their uninterrupted trip.
“It’s a happy decision for the people who are here,” Uriev Ellapen said. He admitted he felt “bad” for the 100-plus Teton Park staff who’d been furloughed and weren’t receiving a paycheck.
Near-peak colored aspens and cottonwood trees surrounded the family. The jagged Tetons, of course, set the western skyline.
“What a place,” Ellapen said.
That reception was par for the course. There have been hiccups in the first few days of the federal government’s closure, like toilet paper shortages and prematurely shuttered visitor centers. Generally, however, tourists’ national park experience has been largely uninterrupted, at least according to a dozen or so Teton Park visitors who WyoFile spoke with on Thursday.
The same can’t be said for Grand Teton’s staff, and the science, monitoring and upkeep that takes place within its roughly 310,000 acres, part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Even before the shutdown, that workforce had taken a beating in the first nine months of the Trump administration.
Although largely spared by the initial Department of Government Efficiency layoffs that were devastating to other federal land managers in Wyoming, the full-time, year-round staff at the flagship national park had by October shrunk by nearly 20%, from roughly 160 down to 130, according to a federal government employee familiar with the matter. That’s due to the White House’s hiring freeze and normal churn of employees, but it’s been exacerbated by the administration’s efforts to get federal workers to leave, like the “deferred resignation program.”
Now, the work that Teton Park’s already reduced, hobbled staff is doing has been put on hold indefinitely. Sagebrush restoration efforts have been halted, and so have plans to revamp the Taggart Lake trailhead and the routine fall monitoring of wildlife, among the many other duties and projects. More than 100 of Teton Park’s 130 or so staffers have been furloughed, according to sources, leaving only a skeleton crew that’s providing the minimum services needed to keep visitors alive, healthy and safe.
Meanwhile, for the average tourist, things appear to be just fine.
“My concern is this is perpetuating a myth that managing public demands [in the park] is only about making sure that the bathrooms are clean and trash is picked up,” said a National Park Service staffer, whom WyoFile is granting anonymity.
National Park Service employees — a workforce that’s been reduced by a quarter nationally — have been prohibited from talking about the federal government shutdown. Public affairs officials have been furloughed.
Advocacy groups are speaking up for agency personnel who can’t voice their own views without fear of retribution.
“This is having a devastating impact on our Park Service employees,” said Alison Michalski, a National Parks Conservation Association staffer who lives in Teton Valley, Idaho. “Especially in a town like Jackson, these are our family members, these are our friends, these are our neighbors.”
“We’re all deeply concerned,” she added. “Not just about the immediate term, but also because of the long-term ramifications for scientific research, for data sets that we’ve invested large amounts of dollars in collecting, and for other longer-term projects.”
Park Service staff also face yet more threats that their jobs could be forcibly removed — and permanently. Experts say the shutdown gives the executive branch no more authority to implement workforce-slashing “reductions in force,” or RIFs. President Donald Trump, however, has repeatedly threatened more layoffs while the government isn’t fully functioning — threats that have triggered more RIF-related litigation.
Park Service staff have been kept in the dark, and have no clue if the threats are credible or what will happen if they are.
“All I can say is the President [and] the head of OMB have been saying since February that they’re planning on doing RIFs,” the federal employee said. “There was an executive order that required every agency to put together a RIF plan by the spring, so I’m assuming that plan exists. No idea what it says.”
A different National Park Service employee, whom WyoFile is also granting anonymity, bemoaned the culture of fear that has accompanied the steady stream of threats emanating from Washington. The workforce is “scared” and it’s “unfortunate,” the person said.
“It’s a sad situation, the circumstances we’re in,” the federal worker said. “I have a lot of respect for the people that work here. They work hard, they don’t get paid well, and we’re trying to do good stuff — for people, the country, the organization, the wildlife, the resources. It’s just sad that they can’t work at the moment.”
There’s no saying how long the 30 or so full-time Grand Teton workers “excepted” from furlough will have to keep things going on their own. Almost all of the park’s 150 or so seasonal employees have already gone home for the year.
There have been 21 funding gaps in the U.S. government’s history. They’ve ranged from a few hours to 35 days, the duration of the shutdown that bridged 2018 and 2019 during the first Trump administration.
In the meantime, Grand Teton National Park’s entrance gates will stay open. More than 270,000 visits were logged this month last year, making it the busiest October in history, according to Park Service data. Similar crowds may arrive this year. Parking lots were mostly full on Thursday, with vehicles even spilling out in places to park along the Teton Park Road shoulder. The vast majority likely enjoyed their experience, even if they, too, feel uncertain.
At the Signal Mountain boat ramp, a Green Card holder who’s been in the United States for a couple of decades consented to an interview and shared her views on the national park staying open during a federal government shutdown. Later, when asked her name, she declined.
“There’s all kinds of shit going on right now,” the Teton park tourist said. “Even though I’m legal, I’ve got to worry.”
WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
