Rangers hit out at Trump’s plans handy management of National Parks to states | EUROtoday

Rangers have hit out on the Trump administration’s plans handy over management of National Parks to states, warning that it might result in the closure of many lesser-known websites and monuments.

The unprecedented plans, introduced in a funds proposal for 2026, name for websites that obtain “small numbers of mostly local visitors” to be handed over to state management and for a reduce of some $1 billion from its $4.8 billion funds.

“The National Park Service is protecting not only these really remarkable natural resources, but some of the most important cultural and historical resources as well,” mentioned one ranger who requested to stay nameless.

“Oftentimes, those more difficult stories and those smaller stories don’t get as much attention as those big-name national parks,” the ranger mentioned, including that they may now be underneath risk.

There are greater than 430 nationwide parks that span throughout 85 million acres, together with each U.S. state and territory. Among that quantity are 76 nationwide historic websites and 87 nationwide monuments that embrace archeological websites and shorelines just like the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida.

The ranger mentioned websites just like the Nicodemus National Historic Site in Kansas, the one remaining Black settlement west of the Mississippi River, obtain only a few guests, however have important historic and cultural significance.

“It’s telling such an important historical story that it would make sense to me and others that it would be a national park and part of the national story that we protect, but when you’re only looking for diamonds, those smaller gems are on the chopping block, it seems,” they mentioned.

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Some rangers see a extra sinister purpose for the handover of nationwide parks to state management.

The funds proposal comes amid a push from the Trump administration to open nationwide parks for mineral extraction, mining, logging and drilling.

“Any indication of ‘states rights’ is a smoke screen for ease of access to drilling and logging,” mentioned one other ranger, who additionally requested to stay nameless over fears of reprisals from the Trump administration.

They had been additionally involved that the handover to state management would inevitably result in closures.

“The states don’t want these lands. They’re a huge financial burden. They’re going to be sold off and massively downsized,” they mentioned.

Precisely which parks can be handed over to the states is unclear from the funds request. The proposal claims that the funds “would continue supporting many national treasures, but there is an urgent need to streamline staffing and transfer certain properties to state-level management to ensure the long-term health and sustainment of the national park system.”

The funds proposal comes simply three months after the Trump administration abruptly fired some 1,000 National Park Service staff as a part of an enormous discount of the federal workforce spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory board that has been given sweeping powers by the White House to scale back authorities spending.

Two courts later ordered the employees to be re-hired, however a lot of them stay in limbo.

Brian Bengs, 54, was a ranger in Wind Cave National Park, in South Dakota, when he realized his job was vulnerable to being reduce by Musk’s DOGE. The Air Force veteran later resigned and launched a second run for Senate within the state as an unbiased.

He sees the funds plan as an try by the Trump administration to take advantage of the nationwide parks for revenue.

“This is an attempt to recreate the Gilded Age, where public lands were looted for resource extraction, and it helps out the rich folks,” Bengs mentioned.

“An effort to privatize would be easier at the state level. In many of these states, they want money because they can’t afford to do things themselves. So the politicians will be more than happy to turn over whatever resources to the federal government, to private developments, mining companies, and whoever.”