Recently, under a White House administration hell-bent on privatizing the patrimony of the American people—our lands, our educational system, our public services, etc.—national parks and monuments are falling under dire threat. Entrance fees to the parks are being raised to a level that will exclude families of more modest means. President Trump is seeking to cancel the latest national parks designated under President Obama as part of a campaign to obliterate his predecessor’s achievements.
Trump and his pro-corporate cabinet members are also trying to severely shrink the acreage in national monuments—the latest two in Utah, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, reduced to a fraction of their previous expanse, thus opening these public lands to oil, gas and mineral exploration and extraction, and the pollution that comes with it.
The National Park Service is consistently rated among the most popular federal government programs. Under the present administration, NPS employees have begun protesting against staff reductions and reassignments, the alteration or removal of scientific information provided at the parks and on websites, the introduction of literature in NPS bookstores that promotes creationism and other religious ideas. There is still a powerful need for private citizen involvement in the management of our national parks system.
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