The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks is urging the House Natural Resource Committee to press Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on staffing, workforce threats, and erasing history and science in national parks during an upcoming hearing. Burgum will testify before the committee on Wednesday, May 13.
The Coalition, which is made up of more than 5,000 current, former, and retired employees and volunteers of the National Park Service, would like to see the committee question Burgum on staffing issues facing national parks across the country. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent staff, which is taxing operations at parks.
While park employees are needed to staff entrance gates and work with the public, the reality is that essential work happens behind the scenes too, notes the Coalition. Positions from IT specialists to scientists and planners have been cut, and these positions help ensure parks run smoothly. When parks lose these positions, maintenance is delayed, trails deteriorate, emergency responses move more slowly, and staff burnout increases.
"Without sufficient staffing, the National Park Service cannot fulfill its mission to protect and conserve our national treasures for generations to come," said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. "Parks have now gone a year and a half with a fraction of needed personnel, forced to neglect essential work from wildlife monitoring to basic maintenance. This cannot go on much longer. Secretary Burgum must answer for this failure, and Congress should demand that this situation is rectified immediately."
The Coalition hopes the committee specifically questions Burgum on the number of positions eliminated, where those losses occurred, and how they are affecting park operations and public safety.
In addition to staffing issues, the Coalition is urging Congress to focus on the erasure of history at national park sites during the hearing. Signage and information related to slavery, climate change, Japanese internment, Native American history, LGBTQ+ history, and more have been removed from national parks across the United States.
The Coalition says that Congress should specifically ask Burgum to explain the cost of the orders to remove signage and other interpretive materials, how the erasure of history is in line with the mission of the National Park Service, and how doing so honors all of our nation’s history.
"Americans across the political spectrum believe in our parks, and want the government to protect them," said Thompson. "It is Congress’ job to stand up for the will of the people, and this is a crucial opportunity to do so. As Secretary Burgum is there on Wednesday to explain the proposed budget, members of Congress have the opportunity to hold him accountable and compel him to do better for our parks going forward."
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