Superintendent McPadden says there will be little to no impact to working conditions due to his decision to discontinue the reservation system. Our Union members and our fellow park employees strongly disagree. Here are the data from our March survey, accompanied by their stories.
Throughout March, NFFE Local 465 shared a survey throughout Yosemite National Park to gather input from park workers about the park’s decision to discontinue the reservation system for 2026.
With nearly 140 survey results, we found that an overwhelming majority of workers strongly disapprove of the decision, with a nearly unanimous majority stating that it will definitely impact their day-to-day working conditions. These results represent not only NPS workers, but our fellow park employees in Yosemite Hospitality (Aramark), Yosemite Conservancy, NatureBridge, contractors, etc.
Scale of Impact
(1 = not impacted, 6 = very impacted)
The following are testimonials from NPS employees in Yosemite. All responses come from our survey. We have left out names/positions to protect identities.
“It’s hard to respond to calls, especially for emergencies, when the valley loop will be gridlocked. Visitors will be looking for parking so they are slow moving or they will be “creative” and park in the road. We don’t have the capacity, parking or staff wise, to deal with the amount of visitors we get. And when the visitors get angry about the mismanagement they take it out on the frontline workers who are as just as much a victim in all of this.”
“Without any cap on the number of visitors in a day our parking lots and facilities will remain completely full throughout the day. Even with limited visitation, we are constantly having to repair our aging facilities. An unbridled increase in usage will result in even more failures. When we are forced to shut a facility down to make a repair and divert the traffic to a different facility, the added stress on the other facility usually results in further breakdowns perpetuating a vicious cycle of disrepair…we will be fighting a losing battle day in and day out resulting in a poor visitor experience and misuse of park facilities. We can’t make the park any bigger and our facilities just aren’t designed to take the kind of abuse they will receive.”
“The invasive [plants] crew functions throughout the entire park, many times at multiple sites throughout the day. Without reservations, increased traffic, traffic jams, and limited parking will greatly reduced work productivity. Additionally, there will be increased disturbance on roadsides where the greatest concentration of invasive annual grasses are located. This will result in the increased spread of invasives which will result in increase fuel loads – meaning increased fire risk. This is a threat to not only the biodiversity of the park, but visitor and employee safety.”
“I have seen pictures of what the custodians dealt with when there were no reservations present. Trucks filled to the brim with trash, sometimes requiring two runs to Glacier Point. Walls in the bathrooms smeared with feces. Long lines to enter many parts of the park. No amount of traffic mitigation strategies or increased staffing changes the fact that there is limited parking in some of these places, with limited roads accessing them.This park and its infrastructure was not built to accommodate the millions of people we receive each year.”
“…more people are parking off the road in sensitive habitats, ignoring signage, trampling vegetation and riverbanks, bringing in more invasive plants in their shoes and tires, leaving trash, defecating along the road. All of these impacts become, to some degree, the burden of [the restoration team] to restore and repair. We already operate on a limited budget with an even more limited staff this year. People come to the Park expecting scenic vistas and pristine landscapes to enjoy but what people don’t understand is it takes work and restoration to make that possible!”
“…I worked in the Valley in 2023 and the impacts of traffic and Arch Rock lines for commuters were massive. Similarly, congestion on the Valley floor impacts ranger programming, particularly the Valley Floor Tour, with our longest trams being up to 4 hours (scheduled time is 2 hours). This also creates a hazard for visitors, because in severe heat, vulnerable populations like the elderly and babies (which are the most likely populations to be on guided, non-walking tours) are especially susceptible to heat-related illness. Being stuck in traffic with no shade on an open-air tram is uncomfortable at best and can even be dangerous.”
“…While areas like Tuolumne Meadows, Wawona, and Hetch Hetchy offer alternatives, redirecting visitors away from Yosemite Valley can lead to frustration and disappointment after hours of travel. The suggestion to visitors to “explore other areas of the park” in the no reservation announcement on social media is a dishonor to the expectation of the majority of visitors. I feel comfortable talking through their frustrations, although it often leads to burnout, for both the visitor and myself.”
Scale of Approval
(1 = approve, 6 = does not approve)
“The majority of my work is front facing. I worked in the valley in 2023. No reservations meant people couldn’t find parking, waited extremely long for transit…
…Angry guests make for difficult interactions with rangers and other staff and damage to the resource. No one wants to see that, it’s demoralizing and depressing…
…I want people to have an experience with nature, not navigating an under resourced infrastructure overwhelmed by massive agency cuts coupled by record numbers of visitors.”
“I absolutely know my work conditions will be impacted because I have worked in this park for many years and seen the steady increase of visitors and the havoc it wreaks on the park. I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet most of us work in Yosemite because we love this place and our community here. I care about the protection of these public lands; I’ve put years of hard physical labor into the trail systems of this park and seen countless superintendents come and go…It will be frustrating and sad for all of us to witness.”
“…I have observed that overcrowding in certain locations, such as Tenaya Lake, does happen and and it diminishes resource protection and visitor experience. I also have experience with disgruntled visitors that will be waiting in long lines at Tioga Pass and other entrances and overflow from overcapacity locations. We will certainly be fielding more of these complaints at the Visitor Centers. We will have more angry, disappointed, exasperated visitors and one of the consequences will likely be a loss of individual investment in the National Park idea, especially in the first time National Park visitors that Yosemite attracts.”
“As a former fee worker, my feelings on the reservation system are complex. Maintaining a world-class visitor experience and aiding the natural resources are the reasons worth fighting for managed access. That said, it is not a system that has been without fault and danger, especially to our gate staff. We need to be proactive and flexible, introducing increased safety measures to protect those who protect the rest of the park. As a park, we should not go back to something we know doesn’t work. We also should not accept the status-quo of band-aid solutions that puts our coworkers in jeopardy.”
“In years when there have not been reservations, such as 2023, visitors come to the visitor center angry and disappointed. I have to explain to them why we don’t have reservations and manage their emotions when their planned trip to Yosemite goes awry because there’s nowhere to park. It’s difficult to give recommendations at the visitor center when areas of the park are consistently full. Everyone has a better experience when visitors actually get to enjoy Yosemite and not spend their whole day waiting in line or looking for parking.”
Local 465 will continue to advocate for workers’ voices to be heard and policies implemented to mitigate the changes in working conditions. We will continue to fight for a reservation system that will maintain fair working conditions. A reservation system protects employees, allows the visitor to have a better experience, and ensures the magic of Yosemite remains preserved. Our public land stewards deserve better, and we will ensure that they are heard.
