by Julia Pierrepont III
LOS ANGELES, July 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. National Park Service employees across the Mountain West have voted overwhelmingly to unionize, joining a widening Western and West Coast labor movement by federal land workers who say staffing cuts, low pay and unsafe or unaffordable housing are undermining some of the world's most admired public lands.
The National Treasury Employees Union said in a June news release that employees of the National Park Service, Intermountain Region, voted 317-11 for the Union to be their exclusive representative.
The Union's new Chapter 347 will include approximately 650 employees from within the Intermountain Region, which spans from the northern peaks of the Rocky Mountains to the southern Chihuahuan Desert. Employees of the National Park Service and Intermountain Region oversee 87 park units within eight states of the American West: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona and Montana, according to the news release.
Positions include park rangers, scientists and administrative staff who work together to preserve natural and cultural resources, ensure visitor safety, and maintain park infrastructure.
The vote came as park employees and advocates describe a world-famous public service strained to the breaking point. The National Parks Conservation Association said in April that the park service has lost more than 4,000 employees, nearly a quarter of its workforce, since January 2025, due to pressured resignations and early retirements and ongoing barriers to hiring.
This followed a 13 percent decline in park staff since 2011, according to the group.
The group said the losses have meant fewer ranger-led programs, weaker resource protection, delayed maintenance and diminished visitor experiences even as more than 323 million Americans and international tourists visited national parks in 2025.
The organizing wave has unfolded against a political fight over federal spending. The association criticized the administration's 2027 budget proposal, saying it would cut park operations by 736 million U.S. dollars, more than 25 percent, and likely eliminate thousands more jobs. The U.S. Congress rejected a proposed 1.2-billion-dollar cut for fiscal 2026, but advocates say flat funding has left the agency operating below earlier staffing levels.
To many workers, the result is not just a management problem but a crisis for the national park system.
Union organizers say the cuts accelerated interest in collective bargaining and turned union drives into a defensive response to a federal government they view as increasingly hostile to national parks, their employees and the broader idea of public open spaces.
Peri Sasnett, a Glacier National Park employee and interim officer for the new chapter, told public radio stations in the Mountain West that employees watched colleagues lose jobs or leave careers they had spent years building. Workers who already had union representation appeared to have more protection, she said.
"Having the protection of a union, having representation is going to allow us to do our jobs as best we can and to take care of these places, which is why we got into these careers to begin with," Sasnett said.
National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald called the Intermountain election "a historic day" for employees who can now advocate for the tools and resources needed to serve the public.
Employee groups and conservation advocates say budget uncertainty, staffing reductions, poor or unavailable housing and orders to keep parks open with fewer workers have collided with years of deferred maintenance and shortages in gateway communities.
Pay is another central concern. Some park workers describe themselves as "paid in sunsets," a phrase used by employees who say scenic workplaces do not offset low wages, seasonal instability and the high cost of living near popular destinations. Housing is tied to safety and retention, especially for workers assigned to remote parks where local rents have risen with tourism, short-term rentals and remote-work migration.
Collective bargaining will not by itself restore agency funding or solve the housing shortage. Federal employee unions can not bargain over congressional appropriations, and many housing repairs require agency budgets. But unions can negotiate workplace policies, seek information from management and challenge changes they believe violate labor agreements or federal rules.
For park workers, organizers say, that formal seat at the table is the point. As summer crowds fill campgrounds, trailheads and visitor centers, employees who keep parks running say unionization is a way to defend themselves and the landscapes they steward from misguided policies they believe are weakening national parks and shrinking the public's right to open space for all. ■