The Trump administration issued an order requiring all national parks to remain open in a case of severe staff shortages, a move called “reck and count” that provides park personnel seats for millions of visitors this summer.
“The order is intended to ensure that all national parks and national historic sites managed by the Department of the Interior (Department) department remain open and accessible to benefit and enjoy the American people and to ensure that the National Park Services Corporation (NPS) will provide the best customer service experience for all visitors,” the secretary of DOUG BURGUM wrote in a Memo Thursday.
The mission requires approval first by the Director of the National Park Service and the Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks for review of any closure or reduction of time at the park site.
The order raised immediate concerns from Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Park Conservancy Association. “Another government attempt to keep the expertise of dedicated park staff far apart,” Brengel said in a statement.
The association said any decision to close a park site is determined by staffing level, weather and maintenance needs. Asking officials to get approval before shutting down services will create unnecessary bureaucratic networks for those who know the park best.
“This is the worst micromanagement, and when park staff have been dangerously extended and dealt with peak visiting seasons, more traditional tapes are generated,” Brenger said. “This order is reckless and lost contact.”
The directive said last year, the National Park Service reported 433 separate park units and 63 national parks record heights of more than 331 million. But the order comes after President Trump cuts about 1,000 national park service personnel this year, with hundreds more accepting the acquisition.
These reductions make the staffing of popular federal agencies (management to manage the beloved California ruins from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to the Joshua Tree and Yosemite National Park) very low, which will make it even more difficult to be both welcome visitors and maintain the park. Cuts may mean reducing the amount of admission workers can charge, clean toilets or help with search and rescue operations.
Assn. National Park Rangers warned that more cuts were possible and would further hinder the service’s ability to protect land and ensure that all people still have access to them.
“Although national parks provide value and benefits to Americans, [workers] “Systemally deprived of the ability to achieve its mission,” the association's president Rick Mossman said in a statement in March.
