Trump and Musk Take Aim at the National Parks and Public Lands
Is indiscriminate firing of park service employees, forest service employees, and others that manage our public lands a first step at destroying our public parks and public lands?
It sure looks that way. Trump and the far right have made no secret of wanting to scale back our public lands and fully open them to commercial development.
There are many U.S. citizens, regardless of their politics, that love our public lands and great National Parks. Many spend much time camping, hiking and exploring the wilderness areas that this nation has protected and conserved. These lands and parks are national treasures set aside for a reason. But Trump and his people only think in terms of how much money they can make by exploiting those lands.
Here are a few examples of the current chaos being created by Musk’s unwarranted, indiscriminate firing of the people that manage our precious public lands:
The only locksmith at Yosemite NP fired. He is the only one available to rescue a visitor that gets locked in a public restroom in the park or let people get back into their rental room in the park, if they lock themselves out. The only one with keys to all of the secure places (federal court, administrative buildings, toilets, closets, gun safes, …) in this very large (about the size of Rhode Island) park and the knowledge to maintain the many locks and the keys in the park facilities.
The wait time at the Grand Canyon NP entrance doubled over a weekend, due to the firing of four employees that worked the entrance gate. The gate where 90% of the 5 million annual visitors enter the park.
Reservations were canceled for stays in historic farmhouses in Gettysburg National Military Park, after the staff there was gutted.
Employees working to replace a pipeline, built in the 1960s and subject to frequent failures, in Grand Canyon NP were fired. This pipeline supplies water for shower and laundry facilities.
A ranger at Effigy Mounds National Park, who helped teach elementary and middle school science students about our public lands and the natural world, was fired.
The Park Service was already understaffed before these Trump/Musk firings. The Park Service workforce had already declined by 15% since 2010, while park visitation has increased by 16% over that same time period. I have noted the effects of the understaffing and undermaintained facilities in some of my visits to a number of National Parks over the past few years. The effects of the current firings of critical staff are already evident and the peak season for visitors is not here yet.
Glacier NP can have 30,000 visitors in one day. That is about half the size of a typical Taylor Swift concert. There is no way to handle that many visitors each day with a greatly reduced staff.
We cannot allow our public parks and lands to be trashed.
Please protest these unwarranted moves toward destruction of our most precious lands with your congressional representative and Senators.
Ken