Five divisions --Interpretation & Education, Resource Management and Science, Information Technology, Commercial Services, and Safety —were targeted for cleanup responsibilities at 10 campground restroom facilities.
April 14, 2025

In Yosemite National Park, where the hiring of seasonal employees was delayed by the Donald Trump administration, a resulting shortage of custodial workers now means the park’s scientists, rangers, IT workers and leadership team will pick up shifts cleaning campground bathrooms. Via SFGate:

An internal email shared with SFGATE detailed the staffers’ new custodial duties, which were also confirmed by several Yosemite employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity (which was granted in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy, because the employees feared losing their jobs). One employee told SFGATE that every year-round staff member in the Resources Management and Science Division, which includes biologists, hydrologists, archaeologists, wildlife specialists and all the park’s other scientists, had to pick up at least one bathroom cleaning shift.

In the internal email, which was shared with SFGATE by another employee, acting Superintendent Stephanie Burkhart’s office requests that the park’s division chiefs designate employees for bathroom cleanups.

“As Division Chiefs, you are being asked to look at your staff and identify staff that can be temporarily reassigned to custodial duties for Upper Pines campground restrooms, at least from 4/15 through 5/4,” the email states.

The email specifies five divisions — Interpretation & Education, Resource Management and Science, Information Technology, Commercial Services, and Safety — for cleanup responsibilities at 10 campground restroom facilities.

Sounds a little too much like the old Maoist reeducation camps during the Cultural Revolution, where they made citizens identified as having "counter-revolutionary" or "undesirable thoughts" perform menial labor.Except at least these people aren't living in camps. Yet.

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