Rangers hit out at Trump's plans for National Parks: 'They're going to be sold off'

Source: The Independent

Friday 09 May 2025 14:34 BST


Rangers have hit out at the Trump administration’s plans to hand over control of National Parks to states, warning that it could lead to the closure of many lesser-known sites and monuments. The unprecedented plans, announced in a budget proposal for 2026, call for sites that receive “small numbers of mostly local visitors” to be handed over to state control and for a cut of some $1 billion from its $4.8 billion budget.

“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,” said one ranger who asked to remain anonymous. “Oftentimes, those more difficult stories and those smaller stories don't get as much attention as those big-name national parks,” the ranger said, adding that they could now be under threat.

There are more than 430 national parks that span across 85 million acres, including every U.S. state and territory. Among that number are 76 national historical sites and 87 national monuments that include archeological sites and shorelines like the Canaveral National Seashore in Florida.

The ranger said sites like the Nicodemus National Historic Site in Kansas, the only remaining Black settlement west of the Mississippi River, receive very few visitors, but have significant historical and cultural importance. “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 said.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/national-parks-rangers-trump-cuts-b2747314.html