In the News *
In the News *
National parks and NPS-managed sites are facing unprecedented challenges due to this administration's actions, which prioritize short-term economic gains over long-term environmental stewardship. Policies that encourage clearcutting, mining, and oil and gas exploration threaten the integrity of these cherished landscapes, disrupting ecosystems and diminishing biodiversity. Additionally, the elimination of national monuments further erodes protections for vulnerable areas, jeopardizing not only the natural beauty but also the cultural and historical significance that these sites embody. The ongoing repercussions of these decisions will leave lasting scars on the natural and cultural heritage that defines our nation.
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Is This the Beginning of the End of America’s National Parks?
Mr. Trump has proposed hacking the Park Service’s operating budget by roughly 30 percent, which would be catastrophic, and transferring less visited national parks and other Park Service locations to states and tribal governments.
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How cuts to national public lands will impact visitors
Crosscurrents’ Sunni Khalid shares what she’s hearing from National Park rangers, biologists, and custodians about how this administration is affecting the nation’s public lands. In the short term, park staff warn of dirty bathrooms but in the long term, they worry about the lasting damage these cuts will have to the landscape.
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Secretary Burgum's Acting Irresponsibly
The resources that generations of Americans have protected for their enjoyment and inspiration are coveted by a wide range of vested interests.
Those wishing to develop, prospect, mine, hunt, trap, harvest, irrigate, and generally extract something from nature’s last refuges are persistent and powerful. Successful defense against piecemeal dismantling of our national parks has often depended on a science-based analysis of predictable impacts provided by central office scientists and resource managers.
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'Biggest nightmare': National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years
A longstanding program connecting young adults from diverse backgrounds with summer jobs in the National Park Service was canceled indefinitely earlier this spring. The National Park Service Academy was a partnership between the National Park Service and the American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit organization providing environmental service opportunities for young adults and “emerging professionals.” This summer would’ve been the program’s 15th year, according to a job posting for the now-defunct cohort.
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Report: National Park Service RIF (Reduction in Force) To Be "Deep And Blunt"
On the cultural side, [Washington] (and to a greater extent than in natural resources) the regional offices maintain curatorial experts, cultural landscape architects, agency historians, restoration experts, historical architects, and the like. If these programs are decimated, all but the largest parks will be on their own for expertise in their attempts to achieve the fundamental purpose in the NPS Organic Act — to conserve the natural and cultural resources of the parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
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Interior secretary orders national parks to be open and accessible as workforce is cut
Park advocates and others criticized the move and questioned how park employees could comply, given the Trump administration’s workforce reductions through voluntary separation offers, layoffs and an earlier hiring freeze. Fewer workers can mean shorter hours, delays, closed campgrounds, overflowing trash bins, unkept bathrooms, and risks to public safety, they say.
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Fired National Park Service Staff Will Be Reinstated, but Long-Term Threats Loom
The move, following weeks of backlash and protest, affects around 1,000 employees.
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How cuts and $1 payment limits are making federal jobs harder
Despite the order's call for exceptions for "disaster relief or natural disaster response benefits or operations or other critical services as determined by the Agency Head," Interior employees say the spending limit combined with restrictions on travel is affecting critical Interior Department work across the nation, particularly in far-flung regional offices that have unique needs.
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The staff is the heart of our national parks. Don’t decimate it
NPS regional offices are threatened with significant reduction or closure.
Those who propose such folly do not understand that one of the reasons the public consistently enjoys their parks is because a small group of regional professionals is making sure the parks are well-run, accountable and up to standards
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How DOGE cuts are jeopardizing our national parks, "America's best idea"
When British novelist J.B. Priestley visited the Grand Canyon in the 1930s, he described it as "all of Beethoven's nine symphonies in stone and magic light."
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National Parks at Escalated Wildfire Risk, Thanks to DOGE Cuts
Federal workers help maintain millions of acres of protected land — and with climate change intensifying burns, conditions are ripe for disaster
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Trump administration eyes 30 percent payroll reduction at National Park Service
The anticipated cuts come as the Interior Department has already eliminated 2,300 positions, including 1,000 that were reported to be part of the Park Service.
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Thanks to Federal Funding Cuts, Hiking Organizations Say Trails Will Suffer This Summer
Without federal funding and support from agency partners, trail stewardship organizations are struggling to keep maintenance projects afloat.
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Former Yellowstone, Rushmore, Badlands superintendents say DOGE wiped out a generation of leaders
Retirees warn that staff reductions and seasonal hiring chaos could affect visitors and imperil natural resources
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National monument in Colorado will close two days a week due to “lack of staffing”
Florissant Fossil Beds will only be open five days a week, announced days after Trump-ordered job cuts at National Park Service
More Public Lands News
The decimation of public lands is a pressing issue that poses significant threats to ecological integrity and biodiversity. With increasing pressures from industries such as mining, oil, and gas exploration, vast tracts of these lands are being subjected to detrimental practices that strip away natural resources and disrupt ecosystems. Clearcutting forests not only devastates wildlife habitats but also contributes to climate change by releasing carbon stored in trees. This process endangers the preservation of sensitive landscapes, leaving vulnerable ecosystems exposed to exploitation. As stewards of our natural heritage, it is crucial to advocate for the protection and funding of these public lands to ensure they remain safeguarded for future generations.
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He Built an Airstrip on Protected Land. Now He’s in Line to Lead the Forest Service.
Michael Boren, nominated by President Trump, is accused of threatening trail workers with a helicopter, building an airstrip without a permit and putting a cabin on federal property.
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Trump administration rolls back forest protections in bid to ramp up logging
“This is all about helping the timber industry,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley of the environmental group Earthjustice. “It’s not looking at what will protect communities. It’s about the number of board feet, the number of trees you are pulling down.”
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Patagonia CEO: Trump Shouldn’t Sell our Public Lands
This Congress and the Trump administration are trying to make it easier to lease or sell 640 million acres of public lands, including America’s most iconic landscapes, and turn our back on the Indigenous and local groups that championed their protection.
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Oregon Sen. Merkley warns Trump cuts to federal lands staff meant to create chaos, precede land sale
“I firmly believe — personally and as a public servant — that we need to spend tax dollars efficiently and effectively, but gutting one of the cornerstones of our nation’s workforces is not the way to do it,” Langley said.