WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of former national park superintendents is calling on the Trump administration to close the parks to visitors in case of a government shutdown.
Past shutdowns in which parks remained open led to vandalism of iconic symbols, destroyed wildlife habitat and endangered visitors, 40 former superintendents said in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
A shutdown now could be even worse as parks are already under strain from a 24% reduction in staff and severe budget cuts, the former park officials said in their letter Thursday. A secretarial order by Burgum directing parks to remain open has led parks to neglect trash collection and other routine maintenance work, the ex-officials said.
The April directive was issued as Burgum came under criticism for staffing cuts across the country amid efforts by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to slash federal spending. Burgum directed national parks to “remain open and accessible” despite job cuts and said his department and the National Park Service “are committed to ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to visit and enjoy our Nation’s most treasured places.”
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado on Friday urged federal officials to keep national parks open and staffed, or create some mechanism for the state to help make that happen. Colorado and other states where national parks are major tourist draws lobbied to keep them open during past shutdowns.
But the former superintendents said poorly staffed parks are a danger to the public and the parks themselves.
“Leaving parks even partially open to the public during a shutdown with minimal — or no — park staffing is reckless and puts both visitors and park resources at risk,'' the former officials wrote.
“National parks don’t run themselves. It is hardworking National Park Service employees that keep them safe, clean and accessible,” they said. “If sufficient staff aren’t there, visitors shouldn’t be either.”
Park staff manage everything from routine maintenance of buildings and trails to educational programs that teach visitors how to safely engage with nature and guided tours, they said. Long-term projects and research are also in jeopardy during a shutdown, they said.
“We don’t leave museums open without curators, or airports without air traffic controllers, and we should not leave our national parks open without NPS employees,” said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, which helped organize the letter.
If there is a shutdown starting Wednesday, “safety must come first,” she added.
Polis said in a statement to The Associated Press that he would be willing to use “limited” state money to keep Rocky Mountain National Park open. It receives about 75% of the more than 1.6 million visits annually to national parks in Colorado, officials said.
“I urge the Administration to prioritize the operations of the national parks that so many people love and are a huge economic driver for our rural communities, especially during leaf peeping season,” Polis said.
The Interior Department and the National Park Service declined comment Friday.
During a 35-day government shutdown in 2018 and 2019, in President Donald Trump’s first term, many national parks stayed open. But with limited staffing, problems quickly emerged: Visitors cut new trails in sensitive soil, pried open park gates while no one was watching, and one off-roader even mowed down an iconic twisted-limbed Joshua tree in California.
During a 2013 shutdown, the park service under former President Barack Obama turned away millions of visitors to its more than 400 parks, national monuments, and other sites. The service estimated that the shutdown led to more than $500 million in lost visitor spending nationwide. That also caused economic damage to gateway communities that border national parks and are heavily dependent on the visitors they draw.
Hoping to minimize the economic damage, officials in Utah reached an agreement with federal officials to donate $1.7 million in 2013 to keep its national parks open. Arizona, Colorado, New York, South Dakota and Tennessee also donated money to keep parks staffed and open. Several states made similar deals in the 2018-2019 shutdown.
State money hasn’t been used to keep national parks open in Montana because they are a federal responsibility, said Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s spokesperson, Kaitlin Price.
A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in Arizona, Liliana Soto, said the state under the Trump administration cannot afford to keep open its national parks, which include the Grand Canyon.
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
