Naughty or Nice List: NPS Changes Staff Ratings
Good Reads: Hallmark Christmas Movies Drive Holiday Tourism
It’s been a tough year for the staff at many of our federal agency partners. Staff at public lands agencies, such as Forest Service, National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have been cut by more than 20% and the Trump administration is looking to enact major Reductions in Force (RIF) in 2026. Now comes news that the National Park Service has changed its rating system to limit the number of staff who get top performance ratings. The change is an effort to make it easier to lay off staff, further demoralize staff, and support selling off of national park sites. The Washington Post reported the details of this new policy in National Park Service orders superintendents to lower employee ratings.
This push with NPS employees is but one piece of the Trump administration’s effort to reduce the staff on public lands. Those efforts will pick up speed once the continuing resolution funding the federal government expires on January 30. That makes this an excellent time to offer up public praise for the staff of local sites of the NPS, Forest Service, and National Wildlife Refuges. Pulling together an event that garners press or social media attention, such as delivering holiday cookies to park rangers to thank them for their tremendous work over the last year, or writing a letter to the editor, will catch the attention of elected officials and the Trump Administration. The staff from all of these agencies have decimated by mass firings and pressured staff buyouts, and have have been working the equivalent of second, third, or even fourth jobs protecting our natural, historic, and cultural resources. They deserve to be praised for their good work.
The NPS Visitor Spending Effects report can be accessed here, so you can document the economic impact of NPS sites to your local community.
I know that this is a busy time so if you aren’t able to do this before Christmas, these advocacy efforts can continue in January. Congress does not resume its work until January 6.
Also, if you do organize an event, post social media or garner press, please share with me so I can share with the network and with the NPS coalition.
Reminder notice: The deadline for Members of Congress to sign onto a letter to Interior Secretary Burgum asking him to halt the RIF is cob tomorrow. If you have not yet reached out to your congressional delegation, please do so ASAP. The letter organizers are using a Noah’s Ark strategy to ensure this is a strongly bipartisan effort. More Republican signatures are needed to get everyone who supports this effort on the letter. Current signers are:
Reps. Tokuda (D-HI), Obernolte (R-CA), Matsui (D-CA), Hurd (R-CO), Beyer (D-VA), Newhouse (R-WA), Randall (D-WA), Kim (R-CA), Amo (D-RI), Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Dexter (D-OR) and Salazar (R-FL).
To sign on congressional staff should reach out to:
Patrick Paolini (Patrick.Paolini@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Obernolte’s office
Michael DeFilippis (Michael.DeFilippis@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Hurd’s office
Diane Fontaine (Diana.N.Fontaine@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Matsui’s office
Keaton Whittaker ( (Keaton.Whittaker@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Tokuda’s office.
Good Reads
‘Tis the season for Hallmark Christmas movies, here’s a round up of how some communities are capitalizing on their locales as Hallmark movies to drive holiday tourism.
Fortune: Connecticut cashes in on Hallmark Movie status to drive kitschy Christmas tourism boom. Note: I love that Connecticut has a Connecticut Christmas Movie Trail map.
Portland Press Herald: In search of a Hallmark Christmas, tourists seek out Maine