Washington, DC — Yellowstone employees and their families, including young children and pregnant women, are currently being exposed to harmful levels of lead through the paint in their housing, according to a whistleblower disclosure filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This filing also reveals that current and former residents were not warned of potential lead exposure not only from paint but also from dust in vents and soil in adjacent play areas.

Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park in the world. Many of the homes for employees were built before 1900, and most remaining homes were built well before 1978, which carries with it a presumption of the presence of lead-based paint (LBP). Park officials acknowledge that around 290 historic residences contain lead-based paint. Many of these structures still house employees and their families.

A 2021 review prepared for Yellowstone by TetraTech found that “Lead in paint were detected above the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)” lead safety levels in most of the housing units reviewed. In the years since this 2021 inspection report, only a few of these buildings have been safely rehabilitated.

More recently, the Park Service completed a Lead Hazard Compliance Review 2025 in response to employee complaints which concluded, among other things, that:

• “Evaluating and mitigating exposure risks, especially for vulnerable populations, is a regulatory imperative unmet at [Yellowstone].”
• “Yellowstone’s housing office was unaware of their own HMP [Housing Management Plan] and was unable to answer to crucial elements of managing health hazards in GFH [Government Furnished Housing].”
• Only 21.1% of park housing was in full compliance with Family Housing Lead Management policies, noting that “the low Fully Met percentage underscores significant gaps in execution beyond policy, particularly in housing management.”

HUD’s Lead Safe Housing Rule had been in effect since 2000. “Yellowstone management has long known about these dangerous conditions but has yet to make them a priority,” stated PEER’s Western Lands and Rocky Mountain Advocate Chandra Rosenthal. “The condition of this housing is both unsafe and completely illegal.”

Currently, a federal lawsuit is pending from a Yellowstone employee whose two young children are suffering from lead poisoning. Even very low levels of lead exposure in children can lead to a variety of ailments, including permanent loss of IQ, learning disabilities, interference with red blood cell production, and stunted physical growth.

Today’s filing is with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel which can order the Secretary of Interior to address any verified wrongdoing.

“A private landlord offering housing under these conditions risks jailtime; if anything, federal landlords should be held to a higher standard,” added Rosenthal, noting that the Park is the target of an ongoing investigation by EPA on the issue. “We seek outside intervention because business as usual at Yellowstone will leave families in jeopardy for the foreseeable future.”

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Read the whistleblower disclosure narrative

See the 2025 Lead Hazard Compliance Review

Examine the pending civil damages lawsuit

Look at the Tetra Tech survey of Yellowstone housing

PEER protects public employees who protect our environment, natural resources, and public health. We support current and former environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers, and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values across federal, state, local, and tribal governments.