Weekly Watch: Installing Cronies
Facing a Funding and Staffing Crisis, Trump and Burgum Install Cronies to Play Favorites for Confederates, Carry Out Mass Firings, and Plot to Steal Resources
HELENA, MT – Save Our Parks is tracking a massive assault against America’s national parks and public lands system by Donald Trump, billionaire Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and their cronies, documenting the ongoing consequences of Trump’s unprecedented attack on our nation’s natural heritage.
This week, after Save Our Parks exposed that billionaire Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had been allowing Kevin Lilly, an uber-wealthy Houston-based investment banker with no relevant conservation experience, to secretly operate America's National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service without proper legal authorization throughout July. These revelations forced Burgum to finally issue his secretarial order. “Burgum just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar trying to install unqualified cronies behind closed doors,” said Jayson O'Neill, Save Our Parks spokesperson, calling it a “poorly executed cover-up.”
The new secretarial order, issued by Burgum on August 1, raises serious legal concerns about potential illegal actions and orders by not only Lilly, but other cronies installed by Burgum who had been on the job for weeks, if not months, prior to having any authority. There’s also the curious employment case around former oil executive and DOGE henchman Tyler Hassen, who is still apparently at Burgum’s Interior Department. It all reeks of corruption, secrecy, and, potentially, illegal activity under billionaire Burgum’s watch.
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is already playing dangerous politics with America’s natural heritage, as reports emerge that Trump is reinstalling Confederate statues in national parks while his handpicked cronies systematically dismantle conservation protections and plot ways to steal critical funding from one of America’s most popular and successful parks, wildlife, and public access programs — the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Worse, park and public land agency workers, like the few remaining park rangers and short-handed federal firefighters, face another round of draconian mass firings by the Trump administration. In response, U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Jared Huffman and U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren introduced legislation to prevent the politically motivated and costly reductions, which have already put communities, users, and park visitors at greater risk.
This is exactly what Trump, Burgum, and their unqualified insiders are doing to America’s birthright: picking political favorites and betraying the American people’s trust while placing investment bankers and oil industry operatives in charge of destroying our cherished parks and public lands so they can privatize, sell-out, and sell-off our national heritage for profit.
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
High Country News: ‘Help is not on the way’
“‘We were told, ‘Help is not on the way,’ said one employee, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing their job. ‘I’ve never been told that before.’”
The Guardian: US national parks staff in ‘survival mode’ to keep parks open amid Trump cuts
“But the administration has also ordered parks to remain open and accessible to the public, meaning the NPS has had to scramble remaining staff into public-facing roles to maintain appearances to the crowds of visitors. This has meant much of the behind-the-scenes work to protect endangered species, battle invasive plants, fix crumbling infrastructure or plan for the future needs of the US’s trove of natural wonders has been jettisoned.”
NPR: Yosemite employees worked for weeks with no pay before the government hired them
“Some seasonal employees at Yosemite National Park worked for as long as six weeks without pay this spring and summer as park supervisors scrambled to manage hiring amid federal budget cuts, workers told NPR. The employees said they are now receiving hourly wages but have not been paid for the work they were asked to do as volunteers while they waited to be put on the federal payroll.”
KUNC: USDA proposes closing Forest Service offices while moving more workers to the Mountain West
“The plan, released last week by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, would eliminate the Forest Service’s nine regional offices over the next year, including offices in Missoula, Mont., Lakewood, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M. and Ogden, Utah. The National Association of Forest Service Retirees, which includes all former chiefs, said they were ‘extremely concerned’ about the reorganization in a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee leaders. Board Chair Steve Ellis, who retired after several decades of work with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, said he doubts that getting rid of regional offices will lead to more efficiency.”
Privatization and Sell-Offs
Washington Post: Trump officials aim to divert money meant for buying wilderness land
“The Department of Interior is drafting an order that would take money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has an annual budget of $900 million primarily to buy land and easements, and use it for maintenance of existing national parks and federal lands, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the order was under internal discussion and not public. The order could be announced as soon as Monday, they said.”
Inside Climate News: Copper Mines Close in on Western Apache Sacred Site, and the Forest Protected to Mitigate The Damage
“Executive orders from President Donald Trump have tasked agencies with prioritizing mineral production on federal lands and fast-tracking mines, which opponents say will likely impact sacred Indigenous sites, national monuments and water resources. Few places are likely to be as impacted as Arizona, where mining has long been one of the biggest economic drivers, but has also wrought environmental damage and damaged the health of locals. Many residents fear the new wave of mining will bring the same problems.”
Community Impacts
The Guardian: Trump administration to reinstall Confederate statue toppled in Black Lives Matter protests
“The restoration is just the latest action undertaken by the NPS, faced with unprecedented staff cuts and threats to some $1bn of its federal funding under the Trump administration, that falls in line with the president’s agenda to sanitize and rewrite the country’s history.”
The Traveler: Canada’s U.S. Travel Boycott Is Forcing One State To Outright Abandon Canadian Tourists
“U.S. travel boycott is slowly becoming apparent, particularly in the states that feel the potential $20 billion in lost tourism revenue most, according to the U.S. Travel Association. In more recent months, the state [Montana] has seen a significant plummet in the number of Canadian visits; statistics show a 33% decrease in Canadian visitors in June 2025 alone, which follows a 38% drop in May 2025.”
Public Domain: Denial Of Gray Wolf Protections Violated Endangered Species Act, Judge Rules
“While the ruling marks a victory for wildlife advocates, the FWS isn’t likely to jump at the chance to protect wolves under the current administration. Trump’s Interior Sec. Doug Burgum has repeatedly derided the ESA, describing it as a ‘Hotel California,’ where ‘once a species enters, they never leave.’”
Public Domain: The Trump Team’s Incoherence On Migratory Bird Rules
“After allowing fossil fuel, chemical and other industrial sectors to kill migratory birds as long as those deaths are an inadvertent consequence of conducting business, the Trump administration now appears poised to restrict the one energy sector that President Donald Trump despises the most from doing the same: wind. [...] The Trump administration’s sudden interest in incidental take violations — something it has repeatedly attempted to exclude from the scope of the MBTA — is part of a broader effort to stymie wind energy development both on and offshore.”
Stories on the Ground
This week, Save Our Parks launched a digital tip line to document the real-time impact of the Trump administration’s systematic dismantling of America's national parks and public lands system. The tip line portal collects written reports and photo documentation of devastating budget cuts, mass firings, and privatization schemes. With Trump’s “park and public land failure by design so his cronies can privatize” schemes advancing, the tip line aims to create a comprehensive public record documenting how this administration is directly harming our nation’s most treasured natural resources and the communities that depend on them.
Ryan Callaghan: “LWCF is used to acquire easements, do projects in damn near every county in the United States. It's equitably distributed. It is as good as a government program as they come. Right now, Secretary Burgum is trying to illegally put LWCF funds into the deferred maintenance backlog. Keep in mind these are the same people that cut funding and staffing in the park service.”
Jessica Craven: “President Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have quietly put a Texas wealth manager with no conservation experience in charge of all national parks and wildlife refuges. [...] These top positions overseeing national parks are, by law, jobs that require Senate confirmation but President Trump hasn’t nominated a Park Service Director or an Assistant Secretary for Fish, Parks, and Wildlife, allowing this guy, Lilly, to run the agencies.”
American Hunters & Anglers Action Network: 🤡 BREAKING: Doug Burgum wants to burgle America’s hunting and fishing fund. Yep. The same Land and Water Conservation Fund that built trailheads, boat launches, shooting ranges, and public access sites in every state. And it doesn’t cost taxpayers a single dime.
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 press@saveourparks.us.
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