NEBRASKA- The state’s parks and recreation areas are used to feeling labor pains this time of year, when its seasonal workers are getting ready to return to school.

But the squeeze is sharper this year, and it’s forcing the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to make unprecedented cuts in hours and services across the state.

The commission’s parks were already short-staffed this summer, operating with only an estimated 70% of their normal workforce, said Jim Swenson, the state’s parks administrator.

Like private businesses, the state struggled to find enough workers this year. “It’s a statewide situation,” he said. “We’re caught in the same situation.”

But unlike private businesses, the Game and Parks Commission was limited in the incentives it could offer to attract applicants, such as hiring bonuses and higher wages. In the past, it’s banked on what he called its aces in the hole, he said — that it’s enjoyable to work at a park, mostly outside, and that it looks good on a resume. Those weren’t enough this year.

“As a state agency, we don’t have a lot of flexibility. We try to do what we can do within the parameters we have. The private sector, they can offer more than we can.”

And the shortage came during a parks boom. Swenson didn’t yet have numbers available, but almost all measurements — day use, hiking, biking, picnicking, disc golfing — were up this year, he said. And most of the commission’s campgrounds have been fully booked every weekend.

But with the loss of seasonal staff, something needed to give. So the commission released a list of service reductions at many of its properties.

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