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With Congress once again barreling toward a government shutdown, America’s parks and public lands are in a precarious position.
In a new Westwise blog post, Center for Western Priorities Deputy Director Aaron Weiss reflects on the Trump administration’s illegal 2018–2019 decision to keep parks open with skeleton crews during the longest shutdown in U.S. history that led to widespread and lasting damage.
During the 2018–2019 shutdown, the Trump administration kept most national parks accessible while furloughing nearly 16,000 National Park Service employees, and the results were both predictable and devastating: Across the country, parks saw overflowing toilets, mounting piles of trash, vandalism, illegal off-roading, and resource damage that in some cases will take centuries to repair. Gateway communities that rely on park tourism lost hundreds of millions in revenue as visitors canceled trips or found parks in disarray.
As another shutdown looms, it’s unclear if Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is planning to repeat the mistakes of the past. “The parks didn’t have staff and there was overflowing garbage and sewage, vandalism that puts people at risk, and so I hope that doesn’t happen again,” said Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. As the clock ticks down toward the government funding deadline on September 30, the lesson from last time is clear: keeping parks open without staff is illegal, irresponsible, and a recipe for disaster.
White House directs mass firings if there is a government shutdown
President Donald Trump’s administration instructed federal agencies Wednesday night to prepare for mass layoffs if the government shuts down October 1, after federal funding runs out. Sources confirmed to the publication Government Executive that the Interior department is preparing "Reduction in Force" (RIF) lists lists of employees to be laid off starting in mid-October, although the exact timing could be disrupted by a government shutdown that would begin October 1, absent congressional action. Interior has already lost around 7,500 employees, nearly 11 percent of its workforce, through incentivized retirements and the deferred resignation program pushed by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
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This is not a conservative-liberal thing. This is not a rural-urban thing. This is 99% of the American people saying, ‘Don’t do this.’ You really are looking at the very, very margins of public opinion to find anyone who thinks rescinding the Roadless Rule is a good idea.”
