NPCA: Secretary Zinke's first 100 days have been disappointing for the national parks/Photo © Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Editor's note: The following column is from Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association. It was initially posted Friday on NPCA's Park Advocate blog.
Today marks Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s 100th day leading the federal agencies that manage much of our public lands, including the National Park Service. Secretary Zinke has described himself as a “Theodore Roosevelt” Republican and pledged to make park issues a focus of his tenure, including tackling the National Park Service’s more than $11.3 billion maintenance backlog and keeping park rangers on the job.
But is he living up to these promises? While there are plenty of opportunities for Secretary Zinke to work to protect and fund our parks, his and the Trump administration’s actions to date may have detrimental long-term impacts for our national parks. Under his leadership, parks face multiple new threats.
• An administrative budget proposal would cut 13 percent of Park Service funding. If enacted, it would be the largest cut to the agency since World War II. This budget could mean fewer park rangers and staff to maintain and care for our parks. It would also mean cuts to programs that protect our shared American history in communities across the country. The administration has claimed its budget proposal includes increases to help address the multi-billion-dollar backlog, but the reality is, under the Trump administration’s budget, money for these maintenance needs would actually decrease.
• In a call to review federal policies that might "burden" domestic energy production, the Department of the Interior is reviewing rules for oil and gas drilling inside national park units. These commonsense guidelines establish safety and enforcement standards for existing or potential oil and gas drilling in more than 40 national parks including Everglades, Cuyahoga Valley, and Mesa Verde. This review presents a clear threat to the Park Service’s mandate to leave parks “unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
• A temporary federal hiring freeze earlier in the year impeded the Park Service’s ability to hire permanent staff, including park rangers. This freeze could challenge Park Service managers to adequately fulfill their mission to support parks. These types of actions — such as reducing staff in the Park Service’s Washington Support Office, Denver Service Center, and regional offices — should not be undertaken without thoughtful attention to the important services these offices provide. Secretary Zinke has also expressed interest in privatizing certain park services like park campsites, but NPCA is concerned that significant privatization of park services or public-private partnerships could elevate private interests over the public interest. While concessions play an important role in our parks, so do the many park rangers who are a central part of the experience for the visitors who value them.
• The Department of the Interior is currently reviewing 27 national monuments designated through the Antiquities Act with the potential to alter or rescind federal protections on these sites. Interior is specifically targeting two national park sites: Katahdin Woods and Waters in Maine and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. The Antiquities Act is a century-old bipartisan conservation tool used by nearly every president since 1906 (eight Republicans and eight Democrats) to create more than 150 national monuments — many of which are national park sites. While specific monuments were singled out by Secretary Zinke, this process opens the door to review ALL national monuments designated since 1996. To date, more than one million Americans have spoken up in support for keeping these monuments protected, just as they are.
• In April, the Department of the Interior reversed course on previous rulings and took steps to approve a dangerous groundwater mining proposal that threatens Mojave National Preserve, the third-largest national park site in the lower 48 states. The Cadiz Inc. proposal would pump 16 billion gallons of water per year from the Mojave Desert to southern Orange County by way of a pipeline. This project threatens the park as well as the plants and wildlife that rely on fragile desert water sources.
A sampling of Secretary Zinke’s actions to date call into question his commitment to honoring Roosevelt’s values, park landscapes, Park Service staff and more. We are troubled by this trajectory and remain hopeful that Secretary Zinke will honor our nation’s history in the manner anticipated by the Organic Act that governs our national parks: “... to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."
We will continue to hold Secretary Zinke accountable to prioritize the protection and defense of our national parks. Our nation’s natural resources and history depend on them.
Comments
You are absolutely correct Mark on every point. From my perspective as I visit them, National Parks need to charge fees to those who use them. This will provide the needed revenue to employ, preserve and protect. Parks should be managed like a successful business, not a charity. Volunteers are a valuable part of the solution. Great Smoky Mountains is one of the most convenient Parks to major metro areas and charges nothing. I recently visited Arches National Park several times and the gate was unattended so no charge. That would never happen at a well managed business. Our country's history of recognizing and protecting our natural resources is one of many attributes that makes us great. Each of us needs to do our part by financially supporting what we use.
Linda...
Many of us disagree with the profit-inspired management creed you espouse. If we were talking about a for-profit enterprise, from a bicycle repair shop to General Motors, I would agree with you. There are missions and mandates the Park Service has that cannot be monetized. Their value is intrinsic, and a trust for the future. Sure, charge appropriate fees where proper, but fees don't apply everywhere. Simple question - what would be an appropriate fee for the Lincoln Memorial, for the National Mall and reflecting pool?
Remember, good people. The problems of our national parks began long before Donald Trump. If his five months in office mean anything (and they don't yet), he is merely following the status quo set by Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. The Park Service itself, moving to "protect" the public, dinged interpretation to make that happen. Now we have cops in the national parks, not just rangers. Those cops in turn see interpretation as frivolous. They would like to have the entire budget for themselves.
Until you understand the dynamics of bureaucracy, you will not understand what is happening to our national parks--or libraries, health care, universities, etc. Take your pick. When a bureaucracy starts to live for itself, its mission becomes just that. "Volunteers" in parks are management's way of ensuring that the big dollars go to them.
I wish it were Donald Trump. Then in the next election things might change. Unfortunately, I've watched every president sincd Lyndon Johnson drive our national parks (and country) off the cliff. Like a punching bag, the President may serve to vent our anger, but it is still the history that calls the shots. Any president could have turned this around. All chose to let the status quo prevail.
Sorry, Al. Yoiur expertise is history, mine is healthcare and to a large degree mental health. In some things, through different prisms, we will disagree.
In my personal opinionated opinion, Trump is not following " the status quo set by Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama". That sort of generalizing comment makes him look like a normal person. In my opinion he is following the erratic impulses of a very troubled and disturbed mind.
In other words, all of the problems of our national parks emerged during the past 120 days. As to the president's mental health, I gather you are a doctor? You have made a personal examination of our president? I personally have examined the history of our national parks, and can find every problem they have today in their 150-year historical development. Even Yellowstone, established in 1872, received no funds for management until 1877. Protection at last came with the cavalry in 1886. Bottom line: If we want our national parks to be fully funded, we have 150 years of history to overcome.
Mr. Trump is temporary. The culture is powerfully permanent. My point is that no president has ever changed American culture, and that includes proper funding for the national parks. Blaming our current president for a 150-year problem may make everyone "feel" better, but it is the culture that makes the rules. We Americans just don't like paying for things owned and managed by the federal government. We say we have already paid through our taxes. Or is that not the problem with health care, too?
Any time I see someone saying "in other words" you can tell that they are about to put words in your mouth to suit their purposes. Shame on you, Al. Such a cheap tactic.
I am not a physician. I am an experienced nurse who worked side by side for over 20 years with some of the best doctors in the business. As a nurse, I generally spent 8-12 hours a day on the ward with psychotic murderers, domestic abusers, out of control schizophrenics, and others [the docs would stop by for an hour or so in the morning]. No, I wasn't a physician; however I was part of the team and had to give testimony in court as a result of my professional observations. My comments here were not diagnostic - they were opinion, based on those years. Actually, I chose to retire seven years back when we moved to Alaska. How long since your last academic position? 1986?
I respect your authorship, and often found your comments here to be interesting. That wound down rather dismally when I realized that many of your recent posts here had turned out to just be the disgruntled comments of a Trump apologist.
Great Smoky Mtns NP is deed restricted from charging an entrance fee because the TN State legislature had the foresight to anticipate this kind of attempted double taxation from the likes of Zinke and Trump. Public lands are just that and to insist upon charging people to drive across the only real connecting road between North Carolina and TN is not only wrong but illegal.
Rick. A Trump apologist now, is it? As a historian I play no favorites. You do, and it saps your credibility to the bone. As for my last academic position, you're right, although it was in 1999. There is no room on college campuses these days for people who believe in the first amendment. Speaking of which, did you watch the Supreme Court the other day rule 8 to 0 [Gorsuch not taking part] in the Slants Decision [Matal v. Tam]? Now there was a historical moment worthy of 24-hour coverage by the press.
But how many covered it--or its significance? And will colleges and universities pay heed? You're free to say whatever you want about Donald Trump only because we have a country that protects free speech. So be it. A major university didn't protect mine. The question then becomes what a degree from that university is worth. The question is not whether I was rehired.
In your case, I bet you were a terrific nurse, but also a pain in the arse. You were an advocate for your patients, and it shows in your passion for getting things done--and done well. You want the national parks to be great, as do I. Unfortunately, you forget the culture, and focus too much on individuals, as if indeed the national parks were a "patient." But they're not--they're an institution, in which thousands of players call the shots.
Whether president four years, eight years, or just a few more months, Donald Trump is just a ship in the night. If we want great parks, we will have to change the culture, nor will that be an easy thing to do.