There are 433 National Parks in the United States, and every single one of them is at risk; already, 90 of them have called for help. National Parks are nationally protected lands that are known for their environmental beauty and conservation. They play a crucial role in keeping ecosystems alive, animal populations healthy, and supporting scientific research. Not to mention, they are spaces where people can go to experience the outdoors through hiking and other nature programs. But right now, the nation is not protecting them at all, and they are at risk of falling apart completely.
In the early spring, Trump sent out a budget plan for the National Parks that was described as “…the most extreme, unrealistic and destructive National Park Service budget a President has ever proposed in the agency’s 109-year history. It’s nothing less than an all-out assault on America’s national parks” (Theresa Pierno, National Parks Conservation Association’s President and CEO). The budget cut over 1 billion dollars for National Parks that went to paying rangers and keeping up park maintenance. Over 24% of permanent employees have been laid off, resulting in many areas of the parks going unchecked. As a consequence, bathrooms haven’t been stocked with essential items like toilet paper and paper towels, making the experience unpleasant for many guests. But there are literally no people to do these jobs. And Trump has insisted that, despite the limited staffing the parks have, they should remain open, which is having even more devastating consequences on the parks.
Right now, with the government shutdown, ⅔ of the staff are without pay due to the budget cuts. There is only what is described as a “skeleton crew” left behind to take care of massive amounts of land and park visitors. In many parks, there are no people who are working at the entrances to collect park visit fees. In some places, people are not paying at all to get in, and in other parks, it is left to an honesty system. In Zion National Park, it is predicted that there will be 2 million dollars lost in revenue, 80% of which goes right back into making the park better for visitors. With no one there to check people, the parks can be and are being vandalized and robbed by guests. In Great Falls, visitors parked illegally and climbed over barricades to get into the park, causing damage. At Gateway, people crammed the beach and parked wherever was possible, creating real safety risks with no staff to manage the access. In other parks, there are no longer safety responses to help if people get hurt or lost. The parks are suffering with the little staff, and a lot of them are making the very tough decision to close different facilities and parts of the parks, so there isn’t an increase in irreversible damage done by guests.
The National Parks are a crucial part of America today; without them, we lose so many things. The government is not protecting them at all, so it is left to the people to step up and take over. If this continues, many parks may be closed for good, and the world would lose even more of its few true natural places. This shutdown needs to be stopped before we lose the parks.
