Deplorable:
The Trump administration is seeking to cancel the leases for 34 National Park Service buildings, including visitor centers, law enforcement offices and museums that house millions of artifacts.
The General Services Administration has proposed terminating most of the leases within a year, saying the decision could save taxpayers millions of dollars. But park advocates have warned that the move could harm the visitor experience at national parks across the country, especially during the peak summer season. The 34 locations were included in a larger list of hundreds of federal properties the government was looking to give up or sell.
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If the GSA moves forward with the proposal, eight visitor centers would close without alternative locations in place, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. And several climate-controlled museums would shutter without a plan for sending their rare artifacts to equivalent facilities.
“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,” Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick.”
The move comes after the Trump administration last month fired roughly 1,000 probationary employees who had worked at the Park Service less than one year. In the wake of these firings, park visitors reported several problems, including long lines at the entrance to Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and canceled rental reservations at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg National Military Park.
“Like the earlier terminations, they’ve taken a broad approach rather than a scalpel approach and made complete decisions about anything GSA-owned without giving any thought to what the impacts might be,” said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.
The Trump administration is seeking to cancel the leases for 34 National Park Service buildings, including visitor centers, law enforcement offices and museums that house millions of artifacts.
The General Services Administration has proposed terminating most of the leases within a year, saying the decision could save taxpayers millions of dollars. But park advocates have warned that the move could harm the visitor experience at national parks across the country, especially during the peak summer season. The 34 locations were included in a larger list of hundreds of federal properties the government was looking to give up or sell.
Travel better with news, tips and guides that make you feel like a local wherever you go. In your inbox, Thursdays.
If the GSA moves forward with the proposal, eight visitor centers would close without alternative locations in place, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. And several climate-controlled museums would shutter without a plan for sending their rare artifacts to equivalent facilities.
“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,” Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. “Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick.”
The move comes after the Trump administration last month fired roughly 1,000 probationary employees who had worked at the Park Service less than one year. In the wake of these firings, park visitors reported several problems, including long lines at the entrance to Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and canceled rental reservations at Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg National Military Park.
“Like the earlier terminations, they’ve taken a broad approach rather than a scalpel approach and made complete decisions about anything GSA-owned without giving any thought to what the impacts might be,” said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.
