Yes, save the parks and close them!

'Bad situation far worse:' Former park leaders demand Trump close national parks

Hundreds of former National Park Service employees urge Trump to close parks as shutdown drags on

By Kylie Mohr

As the government shutdown drags on for its 24th day, hundreds of former National Park Service employees are urging the Donald Trump administration to protect parks by closing them.

They’re worried about reports of misbehavior in the parks, specifically pointing to a wildfire sparked near an unstaffed campground in Joshua Tree National Park and illegal BASE jumpers and squatters flaunting rules in Yosemite National Park. 

These incidents “clearly demonstrate the problems with keeping parks open with minimal or no staff,” a letter sent Thursday from 450 former employees to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum states. “We write to you with great alarm after dangerous and life-threatening incidents at national parks and urge you once again to close all national parks until the government re-opens,” the letter reads. 

According to the letter, there are also “less high-profile reports of bathrooms overflowing, trash that is not being picked up, and trails that are not being safely maintained or monitored, which add urgency to our ask.” 

Employees argued that keeping parks open without enough staff to resolve these problems violates the agency’s mission, which includes protecting and conserving resources for future generations. “We recognize that closing parks is not an easy decision, but it’s the responsible one,” they wrote. “Protecting our parks now ensures that future generations can enjoy them as we do today.”

A spokesperson from the Department of the Interior who didn’t provide their name wouldn’t say if Burgum was considering closing parks. Instead, they blamed Democrats for the shutdown and talked about the shutdown’s impact on economies that revolve around national parks. 

“The Department recognizes the serious consequences that a lapse in federal appropriations, caused by Congressional Democrats, has on the National Park System,” they wrote. “We are committed to protecting park resources, ensuring public safety, and maintaining visitor access to the greatest extent practicable.” 

Park sites have been mostly open (with some exceptions) during the shutdown but operating with skeleton crews, closed visitor centers, and the lack of much-needed entrance and campground fee revenue. According to the Department of the Interior, 80% of the service’s 430 sites, which include national monuments, historic battlefields and more, are currently open in some capacity. These sites are using past fee revenue to support operations, an approach deemed illegal by the Government Accountability Office during the last shutdown. 

Parks are already operating with 24% fewer permanent staff members than before the Trump administration began reducing the size of the federal government this winter. Of the approximately 15,000 remaining agency employees, almost two thirds, or 9,300 workers, are furloughed. The rest are working without pay, for now. 

The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, a group of current and former employees and volunteers, and the Association of National Park Rangers, a group of park professionals, coordinated the letter writing and signing campaign. “As iconic landscapes burn and campgrounds and trails are littered with trash or human waste, Secretary Burgum cannot sit idly by,” Emily Thompson, the coalition’s executive director, said in a statement.

High-level leaders threw their support behind the message, including two former directors, six former regional directors and more than 90 former superintendents. “Leaving the parks open to be trashed or damaged, and then requiring employees to ‘fix’ it all when they go back to work is unacceptable and unfair,” Bill Wade, the association’s executive director, said in a news release. 

A group of more than 40 former national park superintendents also asked Burgum to close parks when the shutdown began on Oct. 1, citing vandalism that occurred during the 2018-2019 government shutdown. He ignored the request.