Trump is proposing 1.2 billion in cuts to the National Park's budget by transferring properties to the states or tribal management.

I live within an hour to Zion NP. Utah politicians want to reap the economic benefits of Park tourism, but do virtually nothing to mitigate the environmental, traffic, recreational, wildfire or water-related impacts. I shudder to think what would happen if the Utah parks were "managed" like State Trust Lands.

+ a KUER article on SAR impacts: https://www.kuer.org/sports-recreat...arch-and-rescue-teams-could-be-stretched-thin
 
It's about obscure and less used sites....... check the entire line of questioning first.

reason.com

The gutting of the National Park Service

Plus: An attack on pro-Israel protesters in Colorado, a conservative wins Poland's presidential elections, and more...
reason.com reason.com
 
Cut $1.2 billion and ALL parks will suffer! And that's unfortunate whether you visit national parks or not.
 
I'm sure those 13 full-time employees laid off at Zion NP this Feb were also "dispensable", like the "obscure" recreational areas.
 
Not exactly some obscure parks and monuments …

National Park Service Budget Cuts
- Overall Reduction: The NPS budget would be slashed by $1.2 billion, dropping from $2.67 billion to $1.8 billion, a 31% decrease and the largest cut in the agency’s 109-year history.
- Operational Funding: A $900 million cut to park operations could force the closure of up to 350 park units, impacting more than 75% of the National Park System.
- Natural Resource Programs: Funding would be cut by 95%, gutting efforts to protect ecosystems and wildlife.
- Cultural Programs: A 60% reduction would jeopardize preservation of historic landmarks and cultural heritage sites.
- National Heritage Areas Program: This program, supporting 62 regions nationwide, would be completely defunded.
- Land and Water Conservation Fund: Funding would be eliminated entirely, cutting off a critical lifeline for parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands.

In 2019, national parks generated $41.7 billion in economic output and supported 340,500 jobs nationwide.
 
KWC's numbers are helpful in understanding the magnitude of the cuts and the important programs that will be impacted by the cuts. Here is the National Parks Conservation Association reaction to the cut: https://www.npca.org/articles/8495-...get-could-decimate-at-least-350-national-park

Interestingly in 2022 there were 153.8 million tax return filed in the U.S.. To avoid 1.9 billion in cuts each return would need to pay an additional $12.35. Small price to pay to preserve our public lands, conservation programs and national heritage sites/programs. Not to mention all those jobs. We are talking about places like Chaco Canyon and Natural Bridges, just to name two that come immediately to mind. (These numbers are also ignoring the revenue raised through visitor fees.)

How can this possibly make sense?
 
The other thing to keep in mind is that many of the parks and recreation areas have non-profit partners that take up the slack through private donations, for example. This is not a sustainable model. Given the multitude of benefits that we receive from our public lands, and widespread bipartisan support, it's disturbing how little value is placed on them by this administration in lieu of tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and a $45M+ birthday parade.
 
And it gets even better … this gem was introduced by the senator from Utah.

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee budget reconciliation bill text released June 11 includes a range of extraordinary giveaways aimed at privatizing public lands and advancing energy dominance at the expense of public lands and resources.

Key takeaways on the public lands sell-off title:​

  • The bill forces the arbitrary sale of at least 2 million acres of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands in 11 Western states over the next five years, and it gives the secretaries of the interior and agriculture broad discretion to choose which places should be sold off. This, just weeks after bipartisan outrage over land sell off text threatened passage of the House bill. That provision was ultimately removed from the House bill and should be removed from the Senate accordingly.
  • The bill directs what is likely the largest single sale of national public lands in modern history to help cut taxes for the richest people in the country. It trades ordinary Americans’ access to outdoor recreation for a short-term payoff that disproportionately benefits the privileged and well-connected.
  • Public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 120 million acres, including local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors.
  • The bill’s process for selling off lands runs at breakneck speed, demanding the nomination of tracts within 30 days, then every 60 days until the arbitrary multi-million-acre goal is met, all without hearings, debate or public input.
  • The bill sets up relatively under-resourced state and local governments to lose open bidding wars to well-heeled commercial interests. It also fails to give sovereign Tribal Nations the right of first refusal to bid on lands, even for areas that are a part of their traditional homelands or contain sacred sites.
  • The public lands sell-off provision masquerades as a way to provide more housing, but it lacks safeguards to ensure land is used for that purpose, and it sets up a system where lands could be sold or resold for non-housing uses after just 10 years. Research suggests that very little of the land managed by the BLM and USFS is actually suitable for housing.
  • Land agencies already have ways to identify public lands for uses like housing if it serves community needs. Jury-rigging a new way to force such “disposal” as part of the budget reconciliation process sets up a precedent to quickly liquidate huge chunks of America’s treasured lands in the future whenever politicians have a pet project to pay for.
 
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