Trump’s Cost-Cutting Threatens Utah’s National Parks Hub
The US government is planning to close the office that manages four of Utah’s most popular national parks. This decision could create big problems for park operations and visitor services.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has announced it will end the lease for the Southeast Utah Group National Parks office in Moab. This office manages Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, plus Hovenweep and Natural Bridges National Monuments, which together welcome over 2.5 million visitors each year.
Strategic reforms
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are prioritizing strategic reforms to maximize resources, cut waste, and enhance operational effectiveness across our facilities”, the NPS Office of Public Affairs told GearJunkie.
The DOGE claims that canceling the lease will save $8,058,490. However, experts say closing this 35,000-square-foot facility would cause serious problems.
Irreplaceable archaeological artifacts
Cassidy Jones, a former park ranger now working at the National Park Conservation Association, explained that the office isn’t just for administrative work. It stores important equipment like rafts, maintenance vehicles, and irreplaceable archaeological artifacts.
“There’s not exactly just another large, well-designed building waiting for all the pumper trucks and the boats to go hang out in if this lease were canceled”, Jones said. “So it’s a pretty unique space that the government has already invested quite a lot of money into, so that it suits the needs in a very ideal way for all of these very unique facilities.”
The office also handles critical functions including search and rescue operations, law enforcement, wildfire response, and public permits.
Reckless and short-sighted
Theresa Pierno, president of the NPCA, called the proposed closures ‘reckless and short-sighted’. “These closures will cripple the Park Service’s ability to operate parks safely and will mean millions of irreplaceable artifacts will be left vulnerable or worse, lost”, Pierno said.
Similar lease cancellations are happening to NPS offices nationwide. However, some facilities have been removed from the closure list after public protests and support from local politicians, showing that community action can make a difference.
