Project overview: Provide essential, free outreach and recreation experiences for visitors by hiring two permanent career seasonal employees to support the Division of Interpretation and Education.  

How your support helps: At Yosemite National Park, the Division of Interpretation and Education (I&E) — the department in charge of providing visitor outreach and recreation programs — is currently unable to meet the needs of park visitors due to spikes in visitation and hiring challenges. 

Traditionally, the National Park Service has allowed parks to hire seasonal, six-month employees for support during the busy summer season. At Yosemite, with increased popularity and longer periods of warmth due to climate change, the busy season is now year-round. Without federal support for hiring during the winter season, park teams are left with unmanageable workloads. In parks with similar operations and visitation, they have moved away from hiring seasonal, six-month employees and moved to hiring “permanent career seasonals” — a.k.a. temporary employees who are able to stay on for more than six months. 

Allowing employees to stay for extended periods of time decreases extraneous resources for training and hiring, ensures continuity of visitor experiences each year, and makes space for permanent team members to address long-term program gaps and operational challenges. This, in turn, supports visitor experiences in Yosemite by giving interpretive rangers the capacity to offer more free educational programming. 

This year: In 2025, the National Park Service Division of Interpretation and Education at Yosemite plans to hire two career seasonals. These positions will be the pilot for a new staffing model, ensure adequate park staffing throughout the year, and make space for park administrators to secure sustainable funding sources for future operations while meeting current visitor needs. 

Project partner: Yosemite National Park