Andy Quick owns Gradient Mountain Sports, a paddle sports retail shop and outfitting business in Cody, one of the main gateway towns to Yellowstone National Park that sees an influx of people every summer.
He and his wife and business partner sell kayaks and rafts out of their shop, in addition to outdoor gear that tourists buy, like hats and sun hoodies. He pointed out the most popular item.
“These little suckers. They're like a $8 foam neoprene ring that holds your can onto your paddleboard or your kayak. Whoever invented these must have their own private island somewhere,” he said.
Quick does some guiding, too. But this season, he’s hiring fewer employees, and seeing fewer rafting rental reservations, though it’s still early.
“I don't know that I can directly attribute impacts directly to those [federal] layoffs yet, but I will say that that certainly does not promote a sense of confidence in operating my business,” he said.
With recent firings, court-ordered rehirings of federal staff and the potential for future layoffs – on top of the usual issues of rising costs and wondering how many tourists will show up – businesses that rely on federal public lands say the upcoming tourism season is riddled with uncertainty.
Quick said some people might hold off on visiting the area this summer.
“Getting them here is the first thing. And then secondly, keeping them around to do some of these activities, especially when fuel prices are high, food prices are high, lodging prices are high. Is there going to be any money left over for them to actually go on these extra experiences?” he said.
There’s also the logistics of actually running these trips on public lands. Quick offers a kayak trip at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The visitor center in Lovell recently closed. He wonders if they’ll have the staff to keep the marina open this summer.
Landon Blanchard also owns two river companies with his wife, Wyoming River Trips and Wyoming Rivers Cooperative.
“ Cody and businesses here can potentially still do really well even though all these changes are happening. However, we rely really heavily on these agencies having people in place and institutional knowledge to move these processes along and work as partners with us,” he said.
Blanchard said getting the permits to run his trips has gone pretty smoothly. But with fewer staff, he wonders about future access to information and what the federal picnic areas, bathrooms and campgrounds his outfit relies on might look like this summer.
“Maybe in the long run this will prove to be a healthy exercise, but it does kind of feel like added stress, both kind of like psychological but also like financial stress,” he said.
Day trip bookings at Blanchard’s Wyoming River Trips, which are typically families on their way to Yellowstone, are down 17% compared to last year. He says there are a number of factors. He’s raised prices recently and things cost more in general.
“We have 15,000 people a month come through the visitor center in the summer months when Yellowstone Park is open,” said Jennifer Thoma, executive director of the Cody Chamber of Commerce. “And when it's not open, we only have 1,500 visitors.”
Thoma said she has only heard from one business concerned about impacts to visitation this summer. Wes Allen who runs Sunlight Sports.
Sunlight Sports is an outdoor gear and rental shop in downtown Cody.
“With everything going on, and all the news coming out around workforce cuts to the national parks and national forests, I am really concerned about the effect it's going to have on visitation,” Allen said.
Allen said he’s not making any operational changes yet –, he’s going to wait and see. He relies on tourists, but most of his business is generated by locals.
“That's where the big economic impact comes. It’s not only the lack of tourists spending dollars, but the rest of that cycle kind of falls off if locals don't get income from tourists coming in. They can’t spend it in the community themselves,” he said.
Ryan Hauck, executive director of the Park County Travel Council, is more optimistic, partly because Yellowstone is set to hire seasonal workers.
“Both international and domestic and group travel all seem to be looking very good for 2025,” he said.
His office is responsible for marketing the Cody area to attract more visitors.
“ The only thing I'm relatively worried about is just the national media coverage that we're getting. Obviously, it's been pretty negative. As these employees have been laid off, they've used their platforms to say things like, ‘This will be the worst year ever to come to national parks,’” he said.
Hauck said the summer marketing campaign is launching soon and his office will closely monitor the response and adjust if needed.
Businesses say it’s still early in the season. Things could pick up. But Blanchard with Wyoming River Trips worries that something deeper is already lost.
“It's unfortunate, if outdoor recreation and connection and community and relating to yourself in these ways outside, I think it's unfortunate if that is becoming less and less of a priority for decision makers and for people in general,” he said.
For outdoor recreation businesses in Yellowstone gateway towns, the past five years have been a rollercoaster. The pandemic, the floods in 2022 – and now, economic uncertainty and potential impacts to public lands feels like another obstacle.
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