Our National Parks Are in Serious Trouble Due to Illegal DOGE Cuts

NPS funding increased 58% under Biden (APR 12%), which was well above inflation. A lot of that went to DEI programs and other nonsense. Truth is, Biden was paying for those increases with added debt. You could cut the budget 20% and be right back where you were when you weren’t complaining about things. You could also: increase entrance fees, increase concessionaire fees, etc. Most of the NPS land is land that wasn’t suitable for farming or ranching.

I don't understand how at this point you people don't understand how you're being played by the media. They're literally saying "what's the most emotionally charged and sensitive way we can exploit these cuts to create attention? I know, National Parks!" And now all you automatons are talking about National Parks as if they're about to disappear from existence. And as if the republic is on the verge of crumbling because of it as well.

Look, I have my issues with some of the cuts, mostly about lack of organized process to ensure reasonable times are followed as to avoid chaos. But I swear, tomorrow they could raise the age for social security by 2 years, also known as something that would actually address the debt, and you people would still be talking about the guy with the only bathroom key at Yosemite being fired.

Trump is just trying to be Mayor Brown lol

Make them off limits so we can protect them for the future. They seemed to have done fine for eons without mankind being there.

They like to pick and choose. It says to welcome immigrants in the bible as well(Deuteronomy 10:17-19).

Do you imagine that the Israelites did not have a coherent immigration policy?

Deuteronomy 10:17-19 does not endorse illegal aliens.

This is the problem with no user registration. This topic should be really important to the running community but there are too many bad actors on the message board now, its simply pointless in debating the idiots mindlessly crap-posting disgusting MAGA ideology.

Great job brojos on ruining this site.

I don’t usually pay too much attention to upvotes but the fact this got 33 up and 5 down is amazing. The sanctimony of the left never ceases to amaze me.

“I am a better human being than you” vs “I have different views than you”

How is making America great again disgusting?

Cry more, you big whiny baby. Not only did I not say anything like that, but Musk, Trump and all their sycophants are out there claiming that all government employees are lazy, good-for-nothing parasites and that all liberals are mentally ill radicals who want to destroy civilization. You want more civility, start there.

Stop crying and cash your $25 DOGE check.

These displaced federal employees get a hiring preference so with a NPS exception, they will hire mostly the same people back. Plus the American public gets to pick up the costs for lost wages and court fees over their illegal firing (no firing thousands of people and citing "performance issues" for all of them is not legal, there is a legal process for a rif).

The parks are enjoyed by Americans from all walks of life and should never have been a political issue to begin with. Its even stupider because the parks are a money maker.

This is a topic where the impacts to runners' training can not be discussed while unregistered users hijack the conversation, yes. Political and practical implications of this issue should be discussed separately.

I saw that they cut 1,000 NPS (national parks service) jobs. There are/were 20,000 people doing those jobs. So 5% got cut. No matter what side you're on for this, I don't see how 5% is dramatic enough to say the national parks are 'in trouble' due to the cuts. Instead of 20 employees somewhere you've now got 19, on average.

However, the NPS is cutting back on hours op operation and even closing access to the parks on certain days. An example is Mt. Rainier NP. It is now closed during the winter from Tuesday through Thursday. Less staff and less operating hours.

People getting fired at this point are mostly people who are on a probationary period. Federal workers to have a property interest in their employment and are entitled to notice and hearing in order to challenge the grounds for termination. But not when you are in a probationary period. You can be terminated at will during your probationary period.

Also, most park rangers are in remote parts of the country. They cannot hang around and wait for 2028 to get rehired. They will move back to the big cities and get regular jobs or just retire. Few will be willing to drop everything and come back after what has happened. That means the NPS will be losing people who are well trained in search and rescue, dealing with wild animals and just know the terrain of their particular park, which can take many months for a new ranger to learn.

The problem is that the NPS is already heavily underfunded. 5% less will have a huge impact now.

Who cares... only libs use National Parks. Only NP that should remain is Mount Rushmore and government needs to sculp Trump and Musk in place of Roosevelt and Lincoln.

They need to cut things like funding for the National Parks so President Musk and Co. can fund more tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. That money needs to come from somewhere.

Duh.