"Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick." - Theresa Pierno, NPCA's President and CEO
Washington, DC – The Trump administration is planning to terminate National Park Service leases and shutter 34 offices across the country that function as visitor centers, law enforcement offices, museums and hubs for critical park services. The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is calling on the administration to immediately stop these reckless lease cancellations before they inflict even more damage on America’s national parks.
Field offices and facilities slated for lease termination house vital staff including scientists, archeologists, superintendents, and others who carry out the basic operations and mission of national parks. If these facilities are eliminated, eight visitor centers will be shuttered without an alternative location in place. And millions of artifacts stored in climate-controlled facilities will have no equivalent facility to be housed. Emergency, search and rescue and law enforcement facilities will also be shutdown.
Some of the Park Service leases slated for cancellation include:
- Fairbanks Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Fairbanks, Alaska: The Park Service’s Fairbanks visitor center, which serves as a hub for the millions of visitors to Alaska’s national parks every year to gather information, receive trip-planning assistance and for resource education.
- Judge J. Smith Henley Federal Building in Harrison, Arkansas: This building is the headquarters for the Buffalo National River national park site and houses its water quality testing lab, emergency services and numerous staff necessary keep this river clean and safe for millions of visitors.
- Robert Johnson Building in Tallahassee, Florida: The Park Service’s Archaeological Center is a climate-controlled facility that holds over eight million artifacts for dozens of national park sites in the Southeast.
- San Antonio Missions law enforcement facility in San Antonio, Texas: This facility houses numerous NPS employees who manage the park including first response and other public safety functions, maintenance, IT, equipment storage, and artifacts.
NPCA has developed a list of the 34 leases the Park Service has been asked to cancel in the coming weeks, which can be accessed here.
Statement by Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA):
“It is reckless and short-sighted to shutter National Park Service offices without a careful examination of what they protect and the critical staff who work there. These closures will cripple the Park Service’s ability to operate parks safely and will mean millions of irreplaceable artifacts will be left vulnerable or worse, lost. Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick.
“Between staff being fired or resigning under duress, the National Park Service has lost 9% of its staff in a matter of weeks. The park staff that remain are stretched thin. And now, the administration is making their jobs even harder. Canceling these leases and firing more than a thousand staff do nothing to make our Park Service more efficient. These moves by the administration are pushing our parks past the point of no return.
“For over a century, Americans have loved and fought to protect our national parks. This administration’s actions are a betrayal of that legacy. The American people expect leaders to protect our parks, not dismantle them.”
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About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.6 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.
