Lake Mead NPS Dive Team operations suspended

With abundant visitors and boating opportunities, Lake Mead in Nevada is one of America’s deadliest national park destinations. Now, as the summer season reaches its peak, the National Park Service (NPS) has suspended its recovery dive team responsible for recovering the bodies of drowning victims.

On May 14, NPS Park Dive Officer Sergeant Ryan McCrea announced in an email Due to staff shortages and the need for more equipment and training, Lake Mead dive operations will be halted effective immediately.

“The park has temporarily removed its dive team to ensure safe operations while personnel complete required training and certification,” an NPS spokesperson said. Outside. “This decision was based on operational safety requirements and the availability of certified dive team personnel to perform this particular task.”

Lake Mead is one of the deadliest NPS sites in the country, accounting for nearly seven percent of all national park deaths over the past decade. It is also one of the most popular sites; In 2025, more than six million people visited Lake Mead. That same year, 18 deaths were recorded at the recreation area – more than any other NPS site. Busy boating, sudden changes in weather, open water swimming and extreme heat cause more deaths in the desert lake. One of the major responsibilities of the park’s dive team is to recover the bodies of drowning victims.

“Current team membership is not sufficient to safely or reliably support dive operations in accordance with NPS standards, operational readiness expectations, and risk-management requirements,” McCrea wrote in an email obtained by local media outlets. nevada independent. During the suspension period, McCrea wrote that the program will undergo a staffing assessment to determine the availability of adequate personnel and a comprehensive program audit to evaluate safety, training, equipment and operational status.

“While operations are suspended, all dive-related requests should be routed to partner organizations or agencies depending on jurisdiction and operational need,” he said.

According to the spokesperson, the dive team is not a standalone unit of dedicated staff, but is made up of existing NPS employees who perform paid diver roles in addition to their regular positions. The team’s suspension follows sweeping changes to the NPS primarily due to federal budget cuts, which have led to severe staffing shortages. In 2025, Lake Mead lost more than a dozen employees, including an aquatic ecologist responsible for testing water safety.

However, NPS pointed out Outside The reductions in dive team staff were not a result of lack of funds.

“The current reduction in certified dive team personnel is the result of general attrition, including promotion and medical limitations, which impact team membership over time,” an NPS spokesperson said.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is vast, encompassing approximately 1.5 million acres of land on the Nevada-Arizona border. The park’s highlight is the 247-square-mile Lake Mead Reservoir, and includes nearby Lake Mojave as well as the vast expanse of the surrounding Mojave Desert. But the lake is also drying up. It is currently more than 180 feet below full pool, according to reclamation bureauMonitoring agency. These receding waters are exposing long-hidden bodies, but also bringing swimmers closer to sunken boats and other debris along the lakeshore.

In addition to emergency response and forensic recovery, Lake Mead divers are also responsible for salvaging sunken watercraft, protecting the park’s delicate underwater archaeological sites, and monitoring endangered native fish populations such as the razorback sucker and bonetail chub.

The NPS expects the dive team to be back online within six months, the spokesperson said Outside. Meanwhile, partner agencies will handle diving-related requests. Operational responsibilities will be handed over to local resources and police departments.