KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. — Crater Lake National Park Superintendent Kevin Heatley has resigned, citing deep staffing cuts he says are unsustainable and damaging to one of the nation’s natural treasures.

Heatley stepped down Friday after just five months in the role. In an interview with KGW on Tuesday, he said the decision was difficult but necessary given the direction of federal staffing policies.

“I did not want to be empowering the current administration to cause that kind of impact on the people that I’m responsible for,” Heatley said. “And I also did not want to participate in the dismantlement — effectively a dismantlement — of the National Park Service.”

Heatley criticized what he described as a systemic effort to shrink the Park Service workforce, pointing to early retirement incent

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