Trump’s Budget Plan Could Shut Down Hundreds of National Parks
A new budget plan proposes cutting $900 million from the National Park Service. This huge cut would mean closing about 350 national parks.
President Trump’s plan suggests that some parks should be managed by states instead of the federal government. This would be a massive change to how America’s national parks have been run for over 100 years.
Beyond extreme
“The president’s proposed budget plan is beyond extreme. It is catastrophic. Every action taken so far by this administration has chipped away at national parks and their staff, but this budget is the final blow. If enacted by Congress, our National Park System would be completely decimated”, said Theresa Pierno, who leads NPCA (National Parks Conservation Association), writes National Parks Traveler.
The budget proposal states that many sites in the National Park System “are not ‘National Parks,’ in the traditionally understood sense, many of which receive small numbers of mostly local visitors, and are better categorized as State-level parks.”
370 sites could be at risk
Some worry that only the 63 parks with ‘national park’ in their name would stay in the system, while the other 370 sites could be at risk.
“The numbers speak for themselves. Proposed cuts of this magnitude could shutter at least 350 national parks sites across the country, effectively more than 75 percent of our park system”, Pierno said. “This proposal is an all-out assault on America’s national parks. Our national parks aren’t just places on a map. They’re our shared legacy, safeguarding the beauty, history and culture of our country.”
Park supporters point out the National Park Service gets less than 1/15th of 1 percent of the federal budget. They are calling on Congress to reject the proposal.
Pierno: “Silence is complicity. Congress must get off the sidelines and act now. Every member of Congress must stand up and reject this reckless proposal.”
