ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- As republicans and democrats continue to point fingers at each other, the pain of across-the-board budget cuts are real for many of our areas national parks.
One of the parks that will be faced with difficult decisions to cut its budget is Castillo de San Marcos.
Park goers like, Rene Lauer, worry these cuts will have a negative impact on visitors' experience.
"Unfortunately if you don't support them and you don't maintain them, if you don't have staff that's able to maintain them, then they really aren't worth going to," said Lauer.
The more than three centuries old national monument attracts thousands of out of town visitors every year like Lauer, who was visiting from Chicago.
According to park officials, they were planning on extending the hours of operation during the summer but with these cuts they won't be able to.
They'll also be forced to cut their evening programs.
"We have a couple openings and we won't fill those this year, it does in the long term make it somewhat difficult to make sure we preserve the place as well as we could," said John Burpee, Chief of Interpretation and Education at Castillo de San Marcos.
The positions that will be left vacant are maintenance and story-teller park ranger positions, it's just one of the ways they're shaving five percent from their budget.
"We find ourselves always looking for ways to do more with less," said Burpee.
According to park enthusiasts like Lauer, the government is making cuts in all the wrong places.
"People come from all over the country to see our national parks and they should be seen at their best," said Lauer.
Castillo de San Marcos won't lay off any of their current employees. According to Burpee, many park employee are not paid with tax money but rather by visitor interest fees.
