Yellowstone National Park opened for this year’s summer season on Friday, and park leaders told MTN News that in spite of government cutbacks, Yellowstone will be fully staffed this summer.
When visitors arrived at the park Friday morning, they were greeted by someone who doesn't normally work the entrance gates. Park Superintendent Cam Sholly was standing there with a smile and a friendly word. He waved at visitors and spoke with a few. Sholly told MTN News that he's confident the park will be ready for the summer.
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Sholly said that about 360 of a planned 390 seasonal rangers are already hired. He said the rest will have their contracts approved soon. He added that number could even go up a bit. Sholly also said that about 13 permanent employees took the Fork in the Road offer and will be leaving. But he added that five of those were already due to retire.
As cars waited in line on a chilly 19-degree morning to get in the park, West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce President Katrina Wise and some of her co-workers walked from vehicle to vehicle handing out free muffins. She said there were more than 140 vehicles in line. That's about 20 percent more than on opening day a year ago. She said the chamber gets a lot of calls about the park, but said not many people seem concerned that services will be hindered by job cuts at the federal level.
She said the chamber is getting a lot of questions about some photos posted recently on social media.
Wise said, “We've had a lot of weird concerns about the A.I. stuff that's been going on lately with the weird pictures of all the bears on the road or the bison running out. And so we just want to reiterate to people that those are all fake pictures.”
Most of those waiting to get in said they were not concerned about cutbacks affecting their park experience.
Tim Spillers of northern Louisiana, a longtime park visitor, but entering on opening day for the first time said, “No, sir, that isn't that isn't going to worry me at all.”
Californian Mark Slaughter said, “Everything's still going to be fine. You know, staffing has always been on the minimal side anyway. Here they've always been underfunded, and staff has spread pretty thin.”
While Steve Bates of Idaho Falls just liked getting to return to Yellowstone. He said, “Being in the park again, that's just it's like a drought and you're back in the park again.”
At the Old Faithful Visitor Center, MTN News saw Rangers are on duty, ready to answer questions and help out visitors.
Running into Superintendent Sholly at the entrance gate was fortuitous because our request to speak to a ranger about the opening was declined. And questions about summer staffing were bumped up to Washington, D.C. but went unanswered.
Sholly said he's optimistic about the coming season. He said that, in fact, there will be more seasonal hires on duty this year than at any time in the last five years.
