Weekly Watch: Illegal RIF and Wasting Hundreds of Millions on Personal Luxuries
Trump and Burgum Plan to Defy Lawful Court Order, Conduct Illegal Reduction In Force at Interior While Wasting Hundreds of Millions on Personal Luxuries
HELENA, MT – Save Our Parks is tracking the massive assault against America’s national parks and public lands system by Donald Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and their cronies, documenting the ongoing consequences of Trump’s unprecedented attack on our nation’s natural heritage.
Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Burgum are preparing to cross a new threshold, and may defy a lawful court order to advance their anti-worker, anti-parks, anti-public lands, and anti-wildlife agenda. Just as unions representing federal employees warned, internal documents this week revealed that Trump and Burgum are planning to fire thousands of Interior Department employees, fulfilling Burgum’s leaked reduction in force (RIF) plan that called for slashing some division staff in half and culling the National Park Service by almost a third. This comes at the same time that the Trump administration is spending lavishly, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, on personal luxuries like Trump’s ballroom and new private jets for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as national parks and gateway communities lose millions.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago-esque White House ballroom construction has already commenced, despite the shutdown and ongoing damage to America’s parks. The administration is begging people not to post pictures of the destruction because of the outrage it rightfully has sparked. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a Congressionally chartered non-profit tasked with preserving historic buildings, sent a letter to the National Park Service and two administration commissions demanding the administration halt the demolition. No doubt Trump and Burgum will ignore these pleas and others while continuing to undermine America’s natural heritage and censoring history.
Trump and Burgum are on a mission to cut our National Parks to the bone by any means necessary, and they’re willing to violate the law and defy court orders to do it. Once they thoroughly break our parks and public land employees, leaving our national treasures and assets in squalor and disrepair, they can justify privatizing and selling them off to the highest bidder.
Speaking of selling out Americans’ birthright, new reporting has revealed that the Trump administration is still handing out giveaways and favors to fossil fuel interests during the shutdown and is now preparing to allow oil and gas leasing across the entire Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been protected for more than forty years.
Trump and Burgum’s plans to target critical park, public land, and wildlife workers are just one more step towards their ultimate fail-by-design plan for our parks and public lands, which were the envy of the world before Burgum took the helm at the Interior Department. Trump’s latest government shutdown laid bare this administration and Burgum’s priorities: extractive industries, political donors, and monied special interests.
If and when Trump’s government shutdown ends, Interior Secretary Burgum must be held accountable for his overt mismanagement of America’s parks and public lands. Public land lovers deserve nothing less.
Each week, Save Our Parks compiles and distributes a roundup documenting threats to America’s national parks and public lands. Our weekly watch report tracks budget cuts, staffing shortages, privatization efforts, and policy changes affecting our treasured natural and historical sites. Compiled news coverage, eyewitness accounts, and official reports from across the country provide essential information in order to hold the Trump administration, Secretary Burgum, and lawmakers accountable and defend our shared natural heritage.
Parks and Public Lands in the News:
Safety and Preparedness
Outside: The Rangers Are Not Alright
“Auerbach’s fears became heightened in early October when the federal government shut down. The Interior Department ordered all NPS sites to remain open, even as the overwhelming majority of full and part-time staff were either furloughed or let go. During previous shutdowns, national park sites have endured a long list of environmental harm: overflowing trash cans, damaged conservation sites, hikers venturing way off trail.”
New York Times: Shutdown Brings More BASE Jumpers and Drones to Yosemite Skies
“BASE jumping, in which participants parachute off fixed objects such as buildings or cliffs, is illegal in Yosemite and all 62 other national parks because of ‘the significant safety risks it poses to participants, the public and first responders,’ the National Park Service said in a statement.”
SF Gate: National Park Service is losing an eye-opening sum during government shutdown
“National park sites across the country aren’t collecting entrance fees during the government shutdown, now on its 17th day. The longer the shutdown drags on, the more money parks miss out on: to the tune of approximately $1 million every day, according to National Park Service data crunched by the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit organization. That means that as of Oct. 17, parks have lost about $17 million in revenue since the shutdown began.”
The Hill: Planned Trump staffing cuts loom over National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife, Land Management
“In a court filing this week, the Interior Department said it plans to fire some 2,050 employees, including 272 at the National Park Service (NPS), 335 at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 143 from the Fish and Wildlife Service and 474 at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).”
NOTUS: Interior Department Cuts Would Hit Major National Parks, Per New Court Filing
“The department is prepared to lay off at least 189 people across the Park Service’s Northeast, Southwest, and Pacific West regional offices alone, according to the filing. Those regional offices oversee dozens of iconic parks including Yosemite National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Acadia National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”
Privatization and Sell-Offs
Explore Big Sky: Dispatches from the Wild: Mike Lee attacks Wilderness Act under guise of national security
“This past June, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) attempted—and failed—to privatize 3.5 million acres of federally managed and protected public lands. This deeply unpopular proposal was rejected by a clear majority of Americans, most of whom cherish these lands for hunting, fishing and recreation. However, rather than respecting the will of the people, Lee—chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources—introduced a dangerous new bill that threatens the future of our wild places.”
Public Domain: Sen. Mike Lee Moves to Bulldoze, Surveil Wilderness Amid Border Crackdown
“Now, just a few months after being forced to pull the plug on his land-sale scheme amid sweeping bipartisan backlash, Lee is leaning into new issues to further his well-documented anti-public lands agenda: border security and disability access.”
SF Gate: Trump is going after the National Park Service again, in a sweeping way
“The National Park Service is preparing to cut 270 positions — about 2% of its workforce. The Bureau of Land Management faces deeper reductions, with 474 employees cut, mainly across the West and equaling roughly 5% of its workforce. The U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service workforces are also slated for significant cuts.”
RE:PUBLIC: What’s the Trump Administration’s End Game for the National Parks?
“Since January 20, 2025, the National Park Service has lost a significant portion of its workforce due to downsizing by the Trump administration—as high as 24 percent, according to internal staffing data reviewed by RE:PUBLIC and Outside. Despite this, an April order from Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum mandated that reductions to operating hours or visitor services, including trails and campgrounds, must be reviewed by Washington. Then, during the October government shutdown, parks were ordered to stay partially open while nearly 9,300 employees were furloughed and the Interior Department prepared plans to fire hundreds of them.”
Community Impacts
WBUR: Confusion at Joshua Tree National Park and others as government shutdown continues
“A wildfire burning inside Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California is nearly contained more than a week after it started. But a group that helps support the park says the ongoing government has made it harder to communicate with visitors. According to Kenji Haroutunian, executive director of Friends of Joshua Tree, the park is partially open with law enforcement and maintenance teams still working.”
USA Today: National park communities may lose millions each day during the shutdown
“The National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the parks ‘on the ground, in the courtroom or on Capitol Hill,’ now estimates gateway communities risk losing up to $80 million in visitor spending each day during the shutdown on things like hotels, restaurants, shopping, gear rentals and more. And those aren’t the only tolls on the parks and their communities.”
“The shutdown, which congressional leaders do not appear close to resolving, has meant tourist destinations like the Smithsonian museums in DC are closed and 9,000 National Park Service employees are furloughed, impacting the operations of the parks. The Department of Interior is keeping many national parks partially open amid the shutdown, and some sites have gotten a boost from state funds.”
SF Gate: No maps, brown water: Shutdown woes at California’s smallest national park
“Snow wasn’t sure if the person who normally flushes the pipes works directly for the National Park Service. But the camp host did say that the task wasn’t being completed because of the federal government shutdown, Snow told SFGATE. Asked about the spigots, Park Service spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said the agency wasn’t aware of the problem.”
Business Insider: I visited a national park during the government shutdown. I found closed visitor centers and tourists looking for maps.
“Since the shutdown began on October 1, there's been a lot of confusion about what that means for the national parks and what visitors can expect to find when they go. The National Park Service has said parks will remain as accessible as possible during the shutdown, though the situation varies from park to park and most are running on limited crews to handle basic services, like bathroom maintenance and trash disposal.”
Forbes: No Rangers And Hikers On Their Own, The Shutdown’s Impact On National Parks
“The environmental effects on national parks and public lands are growing. Most gates and roads remain open, but routine stewardship is paused or sharply reduced. After three weeks without normal staffing, parks and forests are seeing more litter, trail wear, wildlife exposure to human food, and scattered resource damage. These impacts carry immediate ecological costs and longer term economic costs for agencies and gateway communities.”
Public Domain: Supreme Court Declines To Take Up Corner-Crossing Case
“The Supreme Court handed a limited victory to public land users Monday, declining to hear a case challenging the legality of “corner crossing” — the act of hopping across adjacent squares of public land in areas checkerboarded with private parcels.”
Stories on the Trail
@National_Parks_Traveler: Court documents filed Monday by the Trump administration in a bid to fire more federal employees indicate the National Park Service could lose more than 270 employees, including some who work in its planning and environmental quality offices and its Chesapeake Bay program.
@NPCA: National Park Service staff are the heartbeat of our parks. They work every day to maintain the places we all love — yet are facing a staffing crisis unlike ever before. We must come together and tell Congress to stand up for our parks and their staff.
@western.priorities: Trump and Burgum are culling federal agencies tasked with studying and caring for public lands. Disgusted? Upset? Write your reps and ask them to push back.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: The Supreme Court declined to hear the Wyoming corner crossing case, leaving in place the 10th Circuit’s decision that favors public access. Corner crossing remains legal in six Western states — and a gray area everywhere else. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers continues to maintain our position that Corner Crossing is Not a Crime.
@beersandbeans: 🚨 We CAN’T stay quiet! >> The Trump Team is planning [to] fire thousands at the Department of the Interior, including hundreds from the National Park Service.
The Crisis Continues:
The crisis continues to escalate across America’s 640-million-acre public lands system and is poised to get worse after Trump’s spending package, passed by Congressional Republicans, slashed some $267 million of previously committed funding for national parks. The National Park Service has lost nearly a quarter of its permanent workforce since Trump took office, with some parks now operating without superintendents and at half-staff during peak visitation. Between Trump, DOGE, and Republicans’ draconian budget cuts, hiring freezes, and workforce reductions, the staffing shortages are forcing scientists, park rangers, and other safety personnel to clean toilets and pick up garbage instead of conducting critical work like ongoing maintenance and supporting visitor safety.
Save Our Parks documents and exposes conditions across America’s federal park and public lands system through monitoring reports, visitor testimonials, and accountability research. The campaign maintains comprehensive documentation through its website at SaveOurParks.us.
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