Montana Parks Under Assault: Donald Trump’s Shutdown Threatens Treasured National Parks, Over $1 Billion for Gateway Communities
Shutdown Will Only Turbocharge Trump and Burgum’s Park Mismanagement, Destruction from Draconian Cuts
HELENA, MT – As Donald Trump’s government shutdown enters its second week, the danger to Montana’s treasured outdoors, wildlife, and national parks, and the gateway communities that depend on tourism dollars to survive, is abundantly clear. The impacts of Trump’s government shutdown on the state and gateway communities near Montana’s national parks and historic sites, like Yellowstone and Glacier, will be immense and harmful. Representative Ryan Zinke held a canned photo op in Yellowstone National Park yesterday while pulling a taxpayer-funded paycheck, yet refuses to do anything to hold the Trump administration nor Interior Secretary Burgum accountable.
Visitors to Montana’s parks, primarily Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, contributed more than $1 billion to the state’s economy and surrounding gateway communities in 2024. Now, not only are thousands of jobs and those communities’ livelihoods at risk, but Montana’s parks, public lands, and wildlife are part of a nationwide, systematic fail-by-design scheme by Trump and his Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
“Cheap, canned photo ops and blame games by scandal-plagued Rep. Ryan Zinke won’t protect Montana’s outdoors and parks. Montanans want Zinke to work to end Donald Trump and Republicans' costly and disastrous shutdown before the state’s already crippled parks and public lands are permanently damaged beyond repair,” said Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks spokesperson. “Under Sec. Burgum’s mismanagement, basic park safety and operations were already collapsing across the system, and now they’re being pushed to their breaking point under Trump’s shutdown. Every day it costs taxpayers billions, puts America’s national parks one step closer to failure, and further harms people, communities, businesses, and the 331 million yearly visitors to our nation’s parks.”
Source: National Park Service, Internal Report, July 2025.
Montana Parks Under Assault:
Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site - Due to staffing shortages, the park has moved away from hourly ranger-led tours at multiple spots throughout the park to just one historic structure when time permits.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site - The park is down to one permanent staff member, leaving it unable to operate. Without adequate staffing, the park faces total closure.
Save Our Parks’ “Parks Under Assault Map” uses government data from the National Park Service to expose the cross-country devastation: cuts to education, visitor services, and safety response mean that places like Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Montana are no longer able to operate at full capacity. Even before the government shutdown began, at least 10 parks across the country were operating with compromised emergency response systems, putting park employees, visitors, wildlife, and gateway communities in immediate danger.
Despite Trump’s shutdown's disastrous impact on America's parks and public lands, Interior Sec. Burgum continues to push and prioritize industrial fossil fuel and mining development on public lands with socialist government-backed policies. A key member of Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council recently informed Trump’s Big Oil donors and other fossil fuel interests that this administration is providing them white-glove, concierge government services.
Additional background:
It’s no secret the Trump administration wanted this shutdown to nefariously fire more critical civil servants at a time when our parks are already run by skeleton crews. Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” chainsawed about 7,500 jobs at Interior, making up more than ten percent of its workforce and nearly 24% of the park services. If Trump and Burgum get their wish, more crippling staffing reductions will be coming soon. Trump’s budget calls for an additional 30% funding cuts, and Burgum’s leaked Interior Department reduction in force (RIF) plan could mean additional workforce reductions of up to 50% at some divisions and nearly 30% additional reductions at the National Park Service.
During Trump’s last government shutdown, his administration forced most parks to stay open by illegally redirecting funds, while furloughing National Park Service employees. The results? Overflowing toilets, trash spilling out of unserviced containers, vandalism, illegal off-roading and joyriding, and massive damage to our treasured resources that may never be repaired. In a letter, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) urged Burgum to classify Interior Department employees essential during this shutdown for these very reasons: to protect our public lands and to keep Americans safe.
As Trump and Burgum repeat the same mistakes from Trump’s last GOP shutdown, they haven’t let the pain they’re inflicting on the country distract them from their campaign of mass censorship across America’s parks. Park visitors this summer were subjected to requests asking that they flag any “negative content” deemed “inappropriately disparaging to Americans past or living.”
Recent investigations reveal the administration has systematically ordered the removal of signs, exhibits, and educational materials addressing slavery, Indigenous persecution, civil rights struggles, and other challenging aspects of American history. Now, the Trump-Burgum censorship agenda for our national parks includes removing signs that include references to climate change. Ironically, as national parks suffer from more intense and more frequent natural disasters, park rangers are being forced to remove signs explaining why.
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