Early summer finds a dark cloud hanging over the Valles Caldera National Preserve and Bandelier National Monument. The Trump regime continues to push budget and staff cuts for the National Park Service though the agency is a miniscule fraction of the federal budget and brings tremendous value to the private sector near national park units. Interior Secretary Doug Bergum has said he plans to end federal management of smaller NPS units and either close them or give them to local governments, whether they want them or not.
Imagine Bandelier National Monument gated and closed. Imagine the Valles Caldera locked with no trespassing signs on the fences. These are likely outcomes unless Americans speak out clearly, soon.
It would be illegal for the Trump regime to transfer public lands chartered by Congress without specific deauthorization from Congress. If Bergum tried to give the Valles Caldera to Sandoval County, or the State of New Mexico, he would face lawsuits. Bandelier National Monument is more vulnerable since it is a national monument designated under the Antiquities Act in 1916, not by Congress.
Bergum has said that under Trump, the federal government will only retain the “crown jewel” units of the national park system that are highly visible, meaning the big national parks like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Obviously, this is an effort to shield their closure or transfer of 350 other parks from public scrutiny and to trivialize those smaller units.
Not only does the Trump regime plan to transfer or close the national park units in New Mexico, they plan to slash the budget and the staff of the National Park Service. Trump has called for a billion-dollar cut to the NPS budget, or about 30 percent. The National Parks Conservation Association has estimated this would lead to closure of three quarters of the national park system nationwide and such staffing damage that the NPS would cease to function. So far, Congress seems willing to go along with those cuts and is making cuts of its own to the funding President Biden provided to the parks through the Inflation Reduction Act.
Additionally, Trump and the DOGE effort have targeted NPS staff for more firings. Secretary Burgum has stated that they will fire most of the NPS staff in the Washington and regional offices and seek to cut park staffing substantially. Already 13% of the NPS staff has been fired, forced to retire early, or taken coercive buyouts from DOGE. Burgum plans a deep reduction in force (RIF) for the agency, but courts have put a stop to the mass firing, for now. Currently Trump’s staff is pushing the Supreme Court to allow mass firings of federal workers across the government.
At the same time, Bergum sent park superintendents orders to keep all the parks open, regardless of staff shortages or lack of supplies or funding. This is an invitation to vandalism, emergencies without first responders, and damage to national resources as crowds overrun parks with no supervision. It appears the Trump people want the NPS to fail so it can justify eliminating the agency entirely in the next three years.
Bandelier’s annual budget is just under $2 million while the Valles Caldera’s budget is around $5 million.
There is some good news. Some republicans in Congress are starting to push back on the Trump attack the National Park Service and national parks. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chair Lisa Murkowski of Alaska along with Montana Senators Daines and Sheehy have express opposition along with other republicans in the House of Representatives. Secretary Burgum has said that he would not divest national park units in the states of those republicans who object, but it is not clear this will end their opposition.
New Mexico’s Congressional delegation and all other democrats are opposed to Trump’s ideological attack on public lands and on national park units specifically. But democrats are ignored in the budget debates on public lands. Even so, their support for the national parks serves as a powerful education effort and they may be slowly persuading some republicans that destroying the 109-year-old national park system may not be something they want to run on in future elections or explain to their grandchildren.
What you can do:
The most important thing all of us can do is share your concern for the national parks with friends and relatives from states with republican congressional delegations. Help your friends and relatives send messages to the delegation supporting their local national park units. Talking to republicans on this topic is extremely important as national parks have never been a partisan issue and parks are big drivers for economic activity, especially in rural conservative parts of the country.
Here is a script for people with republican or democratic congressional representation:
Dear Senator or Representative:
Please support increased funding for the National Park Service and no further staff cuts for the agency. Please oppose removal of any units of the national park system. All units of the national park system are important pieces of our national heritage, and the National Park Service brand attracts visitors from all over the country and the world who spend $26 billion per year in local economies near NPS units. Though the federal deficit is an important issue, cutting the NPS budget which is 1/15th of 1% of the federal budget will not make a difference, especially when you consider the economic stimulation parks, especially small parks provide to the private sector.
