Every year, nearly half a million people pull off the highway on the central Oregon coast to get a good look at Yaquina Head.

Home of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse (the tallest lighthouse in Oregon), as well as a pristine marine habitat and a popular visitor center, the coastal park site managed by the Bureau of Land Management is suddenly under duress after federal layoffs culled a third of its staff.

The Trump administration’s widespread purge of the federal workforce has touched virtually every corner of Oregon, affecting the region’s many national forests and other federal lands — including Yaquina Head.

Of the nine employees at the Newport park, three were laid off in February, all interpretive rangers, leaving just one education specialist at the park, former employees said.

The fired workers were in charge of educational programming, operating the visitor center, collecting entrance fees and roving the park to make sure people follow the rules and perform what the park calls “preventative search and rescue,” making sure people explore the rocky coastline safely.

Sabrina Gorney, one of the fired employees, received a pre-formatted termination letter Feb. 18 that cited poor performance, “which I didn’t really agree with because I had only received excellent performance appraisals,” she said. The performance rationale, which was used by other agencies, has been challenged in lawsuits against the federal government.

Yaquina Head is already feeling the effects. The park’s website was just updated to reflect reduced gate hours, now 9 a.m.-4 p.m., cut by about two hours, while the visitor center now closes an hour earlier, open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Lighthouse tours have also been put on hold. The park is still open daily as of now.

Gorney said she’s heard from remaining employees that the park is scrambling to staff the entrance station to ensure people continue paying the $7 entrance fee, which helps pay for the park’s operations.

“The fees stay with the park for the most part, they help pay for our salaries,” she said. “If the entrance station isn’t staffed throughout the day, the park is losing money.”

The effects are expected to only get worse this spring and summer, as seasonal crowds flock back to the Newport attraction. A hiring freeze, instituted earlier this year, means no seasonal employees are lined up for the summer, leaving Yaquina Head short-handed.

“Everyone is quite concerned,” said Martin Desmond, president of the nonprofit Friends of Yaquina Lighthouses, which supports the park and runs a gift shop in the visitor center. “We could have a really desperate situation with this park.”

In 2024, Yaquina Head saw 428,442 visitors, according to park records, though in previous years, when more seasonal staff meant longer open hours, those annual numbers ballooned to half a million. People go there to see seal pups in the spring and king tides in the winter. Summer tourists explore tide pools and hike trails that run through the park.

In the warmer months, when the park sees its biggest crowds, an interpretive ranger has often been staffed at a table by the tide pools to help people navigate the slippery area safely. Rangers also provided information on the kinds of marine life they might encounter in the intertidal area.

“I assume those resources are going to be gone,” said Dennis White, a board member of the Seven Capes Bird Alliance, which has been collaborating with the park for years. “If that table isn’t there, that’s a loss of an education opportunity completely, all summer long.”

For White, that education is essential. A big part of educational programming in natural areas is about instilling a sense of stewardship in visitors, he said, “heightening their sense of excitement … and the importance of being a good steward.”

“Without these people, you’re just heightening your risk that something’s going to go wrong,” White said.

Efforts are underway to protest the cuts at Yaquina Head, though it’s unclear how much impact they will have.

Desmond said he testified at a Newport City Council meeting March 3 about the local federal firings, which also included positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A city council spokesperson said members favored signing a letter to the federal government, pending the language involved. They did not vote on taking any action.

Gorney said she has been in touch with multiple law firms about class action lawsuits against the federal government, but said nothing has solidified.

Another fired Yaquina Head worker requested anonymity to speak to The Oregonian/OregonLive because they hoped to be rehired by the Bureau of Land Management.

“I absolutely adore the park, I loved serving as a public servant there,” the former employee said. “I would like to see action being taken to fight for us as federal employees because the way this was done was heartless and cruel.”

Gorney has spent the past two weeks applying for other jobs, some with state and local park agencies, as she continues to mull her forced career pivot. She said it’s unlikely she would return to the federal government at this point.

“There’s no guarantee that it will be better under a future administration,” said Gorney, 24. “As someone who is still young, who still has time to start over, I would like to do something where I would be treated as a human.”