Yellowstone National Park’s superintendent said he expects a strong summer season. But at least one business in Cody isn’t so sure.
Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly spoke at the Cody Chamber of Commerce’s annual National Parks Day Luncheon on May 5. He said the park has more part time and full time employees than the past five years.
“Our critical positions are filled, whether that's public safety paramedics, wastewater treatment operators.”
Yellowstone has 395 permanent staff, which is three more than last year and 387 seasonal staff up 31 from last year.
Seven probationary Yellowstone employees were let go as part of federal layoffs in February. A spokesperson for the park said all of those jobs were reinstated. But one of those seven told WPR he was fired again in April following a Supreme Court ruling that allowed the initial layoffs to move forward. The Yellowstone spokesperson countered the employees' claim.
“All seven probationary employees who were fired were reinstated. Six of them currently work for Yellowstone National Park. One is no longer an employee for reasons unrelated to the original probationary firings. We do not comment on individual personnel cases,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
WPR reached out to the DC office for more clarification, but did not hear back by deadline.
An average start to the season
Andy Quick, who owns a paddle sports retail shop and outfitting business in Cody, said his summer season is off to an average start.
“ I guess I have no choice but to be cautiously optimistic, but I'm still definitely a little guarded, I guess you could say, about the season. There's a lot of uncertainty, so it's hard to really get much planning done,” he said.
Quick said he has seen bookings for higher end private trips that are typically booked by corporations, church groups and nonprofits, but so far hasn’t seen any reservations for daily raft trips typically booked by families. Usually by this time of year, he has eight to 10 of those family rafting trips on the books.
“ Maybe just the cost of living is higher. Maybe people are feeling a little more uncertain about making travel plans if they hear about staffing numbers for federal land like the park being low. Maybe they're not gonna have the experience that they thought they were gonna have. Maybe they're choosing to vacation a little closer to home or they’re gonna not go on vacation,” he said.
Quintin Blair is the chief marketing officer for Blair Hotels, which includes the Holiday Inn, the Comfort Inn and the Buffalo Bill Village. He said they are seeing “pretty standard” bookings even for group travel, which includes tour buses that bring in people internationally.
Blair said he was glad to hear about Yellowstone being fully staffed for the summer season.
“ I think they'll be able to provide a wonderful visitor experience, and I think that we'll do our best to compliment it and have a great season,” he said.
