National monument in Colorado will close two days a week due to “lack of staffing”
Florissant Fossil Beds will only be open five days a week, announced days after Trump-ordered job cuts at National Park Service
Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post
As officials of the National Park Service cope with job cuts ordered by the Trump administration and confusion over whether future cutbacks will take place, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument announced that it will be closed two days a week until further notice.
“Due to a lack of staffing, effective Monday, February 24, 2025, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument will be closed Mondays and Tuesdays,” a monument employee wrote on Facebook Thursday. “There will be no access to the visitor center, trailhead parking or public restrooms. The monument is open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.”
Located 35 miles west of Colorado Springs and administered by the National Park Service, Florissant Fossil Beds attracted 63,739 visitors in 2023 and is home to “one of the richest and most diverse fossil deposits in the world,” according to the park’s website. “Petrified redwood stumps up to 14 feet wide and thousands of detailed fossils of insects and plants reveal the story of a very different, prehistoric Colorado.”
As of Friday morning, the Facebook post had generated more than 7,500 comments, many of them denouncing the Trump Administration, however, the post didn’t tie the staffing problems to jobs cuts or any other specific reason.
Read more from John Meyer at DenverPost.com
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