How Trump broke nature

It’s difficult to keep track of all of the ways in which President Donald Trump has made our lives increasingly awful over the last 11 months. Every day we bear witness to his comprehensive assault on immigrants and his deep racism, and his dystopian vision for the country is so vast that there’s really nothing he won’t wreck.

So we’ve watched lifesaving medical research get slashed to the bone, because who cares about stupid stuff like making sure your child doesn’t die of cancer? Our food, along with everything else, costs more, but hey, at least it’s also less safe! Job growth is frozen, with more than 700,000 fewer people employed than this time last year. 

What if you wanted to just get away from all this doom and gloom and go for a nice hike? You know, just get out on a trail somewhere and relax for a bit? 

Um, about that …

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The Washington Post obtained an internal Forest Service report showing that, thanks to Trump’s cuts, trails are in bad shape and are only going to get worse. 

Some forest districts lost 100% of their trail staff. That seems bad, right? Also bad? Banning the Forest Service from hiring seasonal workers to make up for the nearly 6,000 permanent staff lost to retirements, resignations, and firings. 

Oh, and another bad thing? Cutting other government programs like AmeriCorps and Youth Conservation Corps, which partnered with the Forest Service for staffing in the past. 

Additionally, cuts to specialized, skilled staff couldn’t be replaced with seasonal or temporary workers, even if that still existed. The report lists skill gaps in “dry stone masonry, rigging, blasting, saw use, construction, mechanized equipment, project management, and partner/volunteer coordination.”

These shortages aren’t just inconvenient, they’re unsafe. 

The Forest Service report says that the loss of skilled staff and lack of trail maintenance are leading to “unpassable” trails and unsafe bridges. Backcountry trails are being entirely abandoned as the Forest Service tries to prioritize front trails, and the overall number of miles being maintained is down 22%. 

The administration’s answer, of course, is a word salad.

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“USDA is focused on efficiency, accountability, and long‑term solvency. Additionally, the Forest Service bolsters its ability to complete trails work through broad and collaborative partnerships. Communities in and around national forests depend on these services, and we will continue working alongside our partners and the people and communities we serve, to meet those expectations,” it said.

First, that sounds an awful lot like the USDA is trying to somehow lay the blame at the feet of anyone but the federal government for this mess—as if somehow those partners and communities made Trump take a hatchet to the government. 

Next, it also sounds an awful lot like the government is so used to these rote non-denial denials by now that it failed to notice that the concerns raised here are not from some effete liberal journalist but from the Forest Service itself. 

While the idea of nature trails may evoke visions of hippy-dippy environmental types—people the administration actively loathes—the Forest Service trails are also popular for activities like hunting, fishing, and shooting. But now these cuts are so deep that it isn’t about the aesthetics—there’s simply not enough money or personnel to keep the land safe for use. 

The things our tax dollars funded and the things we voted for—all of these are being arbitrarily stripped away by Trump and his band of brutal nihilists. There’s no part of our lives that this won’t touch, and no part of our lives that this won’t make worse. 

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