Traveler's View | Tell Interior Secretary Burgum What You Think

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum wants you to reach out to him about national parks.

So do it.

He's provided specific language that parks have posted (photo above), asking visitors to inform him about interpretive signs that disparage "either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features."

Now, since "the information collected will be used to assess and improve the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of services provided within national parks," the fact that the Trump administration has pushed thousands of National Park Service employees out of the agency, and in light of the administration's desire to cut more than $1 billion from the Park Service's budget, there are some rather obvious questions that would be good to have Secretary Burgum answer.

So use that QR code to reach the survey page and let your questions fly. 

For instance:

• You might urge him not to offload units of the National Park System that he views as “cost centers” — parks that cost more to maintain than they bring in — but rather to embrace the culture, history, or grandeur they protect.
• And you might tell him that instead of asking Congress to cut the National Park Service’s budget by roughly one-third — $1+ billion — he should be asking Congress to fully fund and fully staff the parks. Along that line, ask him how he plans to fulfill the Park Service mandate to conserve the parks' natural and cultural resources for future generations if he's cutting park staff right and left.
• Tell him that instead of seeking reduced fees for ranchers grazing cattle on public lands and for logging companies to cut timber from federal lands, he should get rid of the existing bargain-basement fees and charge market prices for those activities to help fund land-management agencies.
• Ask him why he’s seeking information on “any areas that need repair” and “any services that need improvement” when he is pushing for reduced staffing and reduced funding for the Park Service. What does he plan to sacrifice in order to have staff available to make the repairs he's looking for?
• Ask the Interior secretary how he plans for the parks to do the science needed to safeguard their natural resources when he's pressured some of the most experienced and knowledgeable biologists, botanists, geologists, and other scientists out the door — with no replacements in sight.
• And ask him if he wants to go down in history for shoveling dirt on the National Park Service Organic Act, which mandates that the Park Service “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."

Here's the conumdrum, folks. Burgum on one hand makes it sound like he's concerned about the operation and upkeep of the National Park System, but at the same time he's pushing for historically drastic cuts in personnel and funding, not to mention looking to twist history by rewriting interpretive panels that aren't all bright and sunny. 

Here's your opportunity to tell him exactly what you think of that.