The Trump administration has issued an order demanding that all national parks remain open amid severe staffing shortages — an action that one conservation group called “reckless and out of touch” as park personnel brace for millions of visitors this summer.
“This order is intended to ensure that all national parks and national historic sites, which are managed by the Department of the Interior …, remain open and accessible for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people and to ensure that the National Park Service (NPS) will provide the best customer service experience for all visitors,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum wrote in a memo Thursday.
The mandate requires that any closures or reduction in hours at park sites are first reviewed by the National Park Service director and assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks for approval.
The order raised immediate concerns for Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Assn. In a statement, Brengel called the order “yet another attempt by the administration to sideline the expertise of dedicated park staff.”
The association said any decisions to close park sites are determined by staffing levels, weather and maintenance needs. Requiring officials to first get approval before shuttering services would create an unnecessary network of bureaucracy for those who know the parks best.
“It’s micromanagement at its worst, creating more red tape when park staff are already stretched dangerously thin and dealing with peak visitation season,” Brengel said. “This order is reckless and out of touch.”
The National Park Service reported a record high of more than 331 million visitors last year to 433 individual park units and 63 national parks, the directive notes. But the order comes after President Trump slashed about 1,000 National Park Service workers this year, with many hundreds more taking buyouts.
Those reductions have put the popular federal agency — in charge of managing beloved California sites from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to Joshua Tree and Yosemite National parks — at critically low staffing numbers that will make it exceedingly more difficult to both welcome visitors and maintain the parks. The cuts could mean fewer workers will be available to collect entrance fees, clean toilets or help with search and rescue operations.
The Assn. of National Park Rangers has warned that more cuts are possible, and will further hamstring the service’s ability to protect the lands and ensure they remain accessible to everyone.
“Despite the value and benefit being provided to Americans by national parks, [workers] are systematically being robbed of their abilities to meet their mission,” the association’s president, Rick Mossman, said in a March statement.
