Weekly Watch: East Wing Destruction a Harbinger of What’s to Come for Our Parks and Public Lands
Trump’s Illegal East Wing Destruction a Harbinger of What’s to Come for Our Parks and Public Lands under Sec. Burgum
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’s Executive Branch is taking full advantage of his government shutdown to implement their anti-parks and anti-people agenda with zero accountability and zero oversight. Indeed, Trump and Burgum’s illegal Mar-a-Lago-ization of the White House is in full swing, as Burgum obediently sits on the National Capital Planning Commission sidelines cheering it all on. Trump’s fit for a king ballroom and the illegal destruction of the East Wing is a clear violation of the law and sets a dangerous precedent in which Trump and his cronies could lawlessly assault other national parks: imagine a luxury golf course in Joshua Tree or Trump’s bust on Mount Rushmore.
The ballroom, which is Trump’s top-priority as he’s rushing to complete it before his term is up, is part of this administration’s out-of-control personal luxury spending, which includes new private jets for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 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. It went unanswered.
And one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders, Interior Secretary Burgum, has already established a clear pattern of flaunting and violating the law when it comes to managing America’s natural heritage, parks, and resources. His actions are going unchecked because the Republican-controlled Congress refuses to conduct oversight and demand accountability as Americans lose public access, park entrance fees go uncollected, and history gets arbitrarily censored. Now, Burgum’s overt mismanagement is spilling over into community parks.
This administration’s destruction of the East Wing of the White House, without a second thought for legal requirements, care to historic preservation, or input from the American people, is a harbinger of what’s to come for our parks and public lands across the country. Trump’s shutdown has meant additional staff cuts at the National Park Service; visitors centers closed; dangerous, illegal activities in parks, including irreparable destruction of land; and millions of dollars in losses for gateway communities. And, the assault likely won’t stop if and when the government shutdown ends.
While the assault on the People’s House, national parks, and public lands continues under Burgum, he’s planning another jet-setting junket as part of Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) to sell out America’s domestically produced resources to other countries. According to sources within the department, the entire junket for Trump's NEDC council, whose top priority is providing white glove, concierge service to fossil fuel interests, will include potential stops in Greece, Bahrain, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, is being paid for by Interior. Reappropriating congressionally-appropriated funds during a shutdown is also potentially illegal.
Look, if Trump and Burgum were willing to gleefully destroy a more than century-old section of the People’s House in violation of the law just to service Trump’s monarchical ego, what will they do to the tens of millions of acres across the country that, like the White House, are supposed to be “stewarded” by the National Parks Service? What happened to the East Wing could be coming soon to public lands near you.
Parks and Public Lands in the News:
Safety and Preparedness
National Parks Traveler: The Unseen Costs Of The Government Shutdown On National Parks
“Lodges and restaurants are open in the parks, key to the Trump administration’s determination to present the appearance of normalcy across the 85-million-acre National Park System. But missing are most of the rangers who look out for visitor safety, resource damage, and both overdue and regular maintenance. Also gone from the workforce in most parks, are the staff who clean restrooms and remove trash, track air and water quality, and conduct scientific research on trends relating to nature’s health.”
“Meanwhile, Yosemite has become a lawless playground, and Yellowstone tourists continue to test their luck with bears. Due to the mounting problems, 450 former National Park Service (NPS) employees wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, accusing the U.S. government of breaking two crucial acts and asking for critical action: the closure of national parks across the country.”
Fox 10 Phoenix: National Park staff call for Grand Canyon closure amid government shutdown
“Around 450 former national park leaders are urging President Trump to immediately shut down the national parks until the government reopens. They said parks are open with minimal or no staff, and already numerous dangerous incidents have occurred since the shutdown began 28 days ago.”
Privatization and Sell-Offs
“As the government shutdown drags on, the American public is understandably concerned about near-term effects on parks and public lands, including rangers taken off the job, visitor centers closed, small businesses hit hard, and poorly stewarded lands at risk. These are not temporary concerns. Many of the shutdown’s impacts are a taste of the future that President Donald Trump is trying to cement for America’s public lands. Before and during the shutdown, the Trump administration has rapidly pushed an agenda to sell out America’s public lands for drilling and mining while gutting the funding, staff, and policies necessary to steward those lands for generations to come.”
Center for Western Priorities: The shutdown is a preview of Trump’s vision for public lands
“For example, the Trump administration has sought to remove protections for national public lands. During the shutdown, many public lands facilities and access are closed, with services and other programs paused. The Trump administration has also pursued funding and staffing cuts for public land management agencies such as the National Park Service. By keeping national parks open with skeleton staffs, the Trump administration is accomplishing its goal of forcing land management agencies to do more with less, putting recreation opportunities and wildlife habitats at risk of irreparable damage.”
The Independent: Trump team announces plans to open controversial road through Alaskan wildlife refuge
“The Trump administration announced Thursday that approval had been granted for the construction of a controversial road through a pristine wildlife refuge in Alaska that officials and activists have fought over for decades [...] The road, which will be approximately 11 miles long, will run through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge which contains internationally renowned wetlands and essential habitats for vulnerable species and migratory birds.”
“Over the last week, President Trump has completely demolished the old East Wing of the White House in order to make way for his new 90,000-square-foot ballroom — and only about a quarter of Americans approve, according to a new Yahoo/YouGov poll. More than twice as many disapprove. The survey of 1,770 U.S. adults was conducted from Oct. 23 to 27 — the days immediately after the entire 123-year-old structure had been reduced to rubble.”
National Parks Traveler: The Wrecking Ball At The White House
“Although the administration first announced the project in July, the sight of the East Wing’s historic windows and façade being pulverized led to a widespread outcry from preservation and history organizations, and countless citizens. At the heart of their concerns is the Trump administration’s apparent sidestepping of a standard public review process, which typically would have involved such organizations as the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, as well as an opportunity for public comment from the American people, before demolition began.”
Daily Kos: The White House Belongs To Us, Not Him.
“Perhaps you know that the White House is a National Park, a National Historic Landmark, once thought to be protected by the Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission, the Historic Preservation Act, the National Park Service Organic Act, the National Trust for the National Mall, and many other so-called conservationists and laws.”
Community Impacts
Roll Call: Shutdown, staffing cuts taking a toll at National Park Service
“The extended government shutdown has advocates for the national parks fearful for the future of what the National Park Service advertises as America’s ‘crown jewels,’ as more layoffs are being threatened on top of the substantial staff reductions already made since the start of the Trump administration [...] More than 450 former NPS employees, including two past directors of the agency and more than 90 former park superintendents, last week urged Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to close all the national parks until the government reopens.”
Flathead Beacon: As Trump Moves to Repeal Public Lands Rule, Government Shutdown Shuts Out Public Participation
“Just a year later, the Department of the Interior (DOI) is moving to repeal that rule, and many of those same conservation groups were prepared to fight back through the public comment process. But with offices closed, communication delayed, and agency staff furloughed, they say the federal shutdown is silencing public participation in a debate that could determine the future of millions of public land acres.”
The Times-Independent: Utah is keeping its national parks open, but some worry the support may not last as long as the government shutdown
“‘With the budget cuts and all the employee cuts that are happening, as nonprofits step in to support more and more, it, in some ways, sends the wrong message,’ Wainer said. ‘It makes it appear that nothing is wrong. It’s not up to us to fund public lands. We support them greatly … and we’re happy to do that, and that’s our mission. But it’s not our mission to fund them completely.’”
Union Democrat: National Park Service losing $1M a day in uncollected fees amid shutdown, nonprofit says
“The fact that rangers are not collecting entrance fees and other recreation fees at Yosemite National Park and other national parks across the country during the federal government shutdown means the Park Service is losing about $1 million a day nationwide, according to NPS data analyzed by the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.”
Stories on the Trail
@amprog: The government shutdown has left 29,000 public lands employees off the job temporarily. Trump’s long-term plan? Make layoffs permanent, gut conservation programs, and hand over our national treasures to oil and gas CEOs.
@sacramentofoodforest: Keep public lands in public hands. And normalize disrespecting the corrupt politicians who try to sell our public lands to their billionaire donors.
@protectNPS: “If we don’t have park rangers, we shouldn’t be visiting national parks.” — Emily Thompson, CPANP Executive Director, on @ABC
The shutdown leaves parks understaffed and unsafe. It’s time to protect rangers, visitors, and our public lands.
@AFLCIO: Federal workers make sure that our national parks stay beautiful. National parks workers—and all federal workers—are essential to our communities, but because of the shutdown, they’re working without pay. Fund the government. Fix the health care crisis. Put working people first.
@backcountryhunters: 🚨 Public Lands at Risk
In September, the Department of the Interior proposed rescinding the Public Lands Rule. This rule ensures that conserving public lands is recognized as a legitimate use – on equal footing with energy development, timber harvest, grazing, and recreation. The Public Lands Rule also encourages partnerships to restore and protect these landscapes for future generations.
@National_Parks_Traveler: Are staff reductions across the National Park Service the proverbial wolf at the door when it comes to the health and future of the parks? The budget stalemate that politicians are clinging to in Washington is roiling national parks across the country, upending everything from scientific research to infrastructure work, and forcing employees to sit home while nominally keeping parks “open” without staffing for crucial operations.
@NPCA: "Every morning Laura Ann Johnson walks through an empty Visitor’s Center. She watches school buses pull up, teachers peer in, and they realize no one is coming to lead their field trip at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore."
@western.priorities: Breaking these agencies is a big part of the plan to privatize and sell out our public lands to private developers and extractive industries. Fight back. Call your reps.
@resistancerangers: The administration is trying to FIRE federal workers who protect YOUR public lands, and they’re trying to push it through in the middle of the government shutdown. Federal labor unions are suing the government, and a federal judge agrees that this is likely illegal.
@NPCA: “Donors aren’t going to offset federal defunding of national parks.” - Eric Stiles, Friends of Acadia. NPCA estimates at least $1 million in entrance fee money is being foregone every day of the shutdown.
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.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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