National Parks had a record year. Trump officials appear to want it kept quiet.

WASHINGTON — America’s national parks saw more than 331 million visits last year, a record. But the Trump administration does not want to call attention to those numbers, according to a National Park Service memo, amid mass firings of rangers and other employees at the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Arches and other popular destinations.

The internal memo, issued Wednesday, said the agency would “not issue a press release or other proactive communications, including social media posts” regarding the numbers. Individual parks could make public visitor numbers if directly asked for them, it said. The data also was posted online.

The Trump administration fired about 1,000 park service employees in February as part of a plan by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to reduce the size of the federal workforce. More than 700 additional park employees also have submitted resignations as part of Musk’s “fork in the road” offer, and agency directors are required to report their plans for still more cuts to the White House by March 13.

“The National Park Service just reported the highest visitation in its history, as the administration conducts massive firings and threatens to close visitor centers and public safety facilities,” said Kristen Brengel, the senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonpartisan group.

She said the numbers showed that Americans love national parks and warned that the cuts would mean closed campgrounds and canceled ranger programs and would curtail the ability to conduct search and rescue activities as peak travel season arrives.

“It’s a slap in the face to the hundreds of millions of people who explored our parks last year and want to keep going back,” Brengel said.

The park service declined to comment on the internal memo. In a statement, the agency said it was hiring seasonal employees and was also coordinating with the White House on prioritizing fiscal responsibility.

According to the data, the park system saw 331,863,358 visits last year, the most since record-keeping began in 1904. The previous record of 330 million visits was set in 2016, when the park service celebrated its centennial.

The most visited were: Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, with 12.1 million visits; Zion National Park in Utah, with 4.9 million visits; Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, with 4.9 million visits; Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, with 4.7 million visits; and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, with 4.1 million visits.

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