How much support will the national parks and National Park Service get from the Trump administration?/Rebecca Latson file

Though it's only been three weeks since the change in administrations in Washington, it certainly seems appropriate to question how the Trump administration will support the National Park Service and what long has been regarded as the world's most outstanding National Park System. 

There are many indications already that the support won't be strong.

• There has been a push by the administration to encourage federal employees to resign. How many Park Service workers take that offer remains to be seen, though, fortunately, there certainly seems to be a determination by many to hunker down and stay the course. 
• On top of that, a federal hiring freeze has upset the Park Service's schedule for hiring seasonal workers, the 7,000-9,000 workers necessary to keep parks smoothly running during the busy summer season. By now many of those seasonal jobs typically have been locked in; indeed, some employees who received job offers had lined up summer housing and now are forced to cancel those leases at some monetary loss. Will they land employment elsewhere before the Park Service is allowed to renew those offers?

Of course, if the application process goes back to square one, many parks could enter the busy summer season without their full complement of seasonal staff, something that former National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis says could lead to "chaos" in the parks.

Plus, that freeze applies to vacant positions in the ranks of superintendents, chiefs of various departments, and other permanent staff.

• As we reported last Wednesday, the administration also has canceled law-enforcement training for park rangers hired before January 27. While the class wasn't expected to include more than two dozen rangers from across federal land management agencies, the Park Service's ranks of both full-time and seasonal law-enforcement rangers are seriously low, so any additions would help improve visitor safety in the park system.
• Not to be overlooked are the marching orders Interior Secretary Doug Burgum sent out February 3. They stressed the Trump administration's desire to push for more energy development on federal lands while discarding the Biden administration's concerns for climate-change impacts and endangered species.
• Conservation groups also say buried within Burgum's secretarial orders is a directive that his assistant secretaries look at national monuments with the idea of redrawing their borders.

According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the Department of Energy has eyed Devils Tower National Monument, Dinosaur National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, and others for energy development.

To say the least, these are tremulous times for not just the National Park Service and its far-flung workforce, but also for gateway communities that rely economically on healthy and well-managed parks, and you, the park visitors.

We'll continue to work to keep you up-to-date on the latest concerning national parks and protected areas.