Utah officials are concerned over DOGE plans to cancel the National Park Service's lease for its Moab, Utah, headquarters/NPS file

Utah officials, including a U.S. senator, are concerned by the Trump administration's intention to end a lease on a facility in Moab that houses National Park Service operations for two national parks and two national monuments in one of the most rugged stretches of the Southwest.

The Department of Government Efficiency has targeted the Park Service's Southeast Utah Group's offices, from which the Park Service staff oversees Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments. DOGE calculates the savings from canceling the lease of the 35,358-square-foot facility at $805,408 over ten years, although there's been no mention of the cost of relocating the staff and operations to another facility.

First-term U.S. Sen. John Curtis, a Republican who took Mitt Romney's seat after Romney retired last year, is aware of DOGE's intentions.

“We are aware that several federal offices in Grand County are under review for potential closure as part of broader cost-saving measures," a spokesman for the senator said Thursday. "Senator Curtis will work with the NPS, (U.S. Geological Survey), county commissioners, and local leaders to ensure the community’s needs and concerns are fully considered during the evaluation process.” 

As the Traveler has noted, the Moab office is just one NPS facility DOGE has targeted. Others include facilities in Naples, Florida, connected with Everglades National Park; one in Ventura, California; one in Yankton, South Dakota; one in Harrison, Arkansas; one in Flagstaff, Arizona, that serves Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Walnut Canyon national monuments; a large facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, that acts as an extension of the Washington, D.C., headquarters and houses the agency's Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Directorate; the headquarters facility of San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in San Antonio, Texas; an NPS facility in Homestead, Florida, connected with Everglades National Park; an NPS facility in Mountainaire, New Mexico; and a large NPS historic and cultural preservation operation in Charles Town, West Virginia. 

The Southeast Utah Group has a wide range of duties, including:

• Budgeting, contracting, concessions and permits, human resources, park planning, property management, telecommunications, and information technology.
• The facilities management division operates and maintains roads, trails, buildings, utilities, vehicles, and grounds. It also ensures public safety in facilities and manages building and rehabilitation projects attached to park facilities.
• Interpretation and visitor services tasks that involve fee collection; visitor centers, campgrounds, and the park's volunteer program; and signs, exhibits, social media, and websites. Park rangers in this division also present guided walks, talks, hikes, evening programs, educational activities, and other special programs.
• The resource stewardship and science division studies, inventories, and monitors a wide range of park resources, including geological features, vegetation, wildlife, water, air, and historic and cultural resources. This division also manages the parks archives and museum collections.
• The visitor and resource protection division is responsible for law enforcement and visitor safety, emergency medical services, search and rescue, and managing the backcountry camping permitting system.