Weekly Watch: Parks Under Assault Map
New Map Tracks Trump and Burgum’s Park Mismanagement and Destruction from Draconian Cuts
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.
This week, Save Our Parks launched the “Parks Under Assault Map” – a new project using government data from the National Park Service data to expose how Trump and Burgum are systematically destroying America’s parks. The map reveals the full scope of devastation: nearly 50 parks, monuments, and sites are facing crippling cuts to education, visitor services, and safety response. At least 10 parks across the country are operating with compromised emergency response systems, putting park employees, visitors, wildlife, and gateway communities in immediate danger.
Source: National Park Service, Internal Report, July 2025.
America’s national parks and public lands are already in free fall under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s leadership, who’s more preoccupied with jet-setting and photo ops than actually doing his job. There is one thing Burgum is focused on: selling out and selling off our parks, public lands, and wildlife to the highest bidder. According to a new report, the Trump administration has eliminated or weakened protections across more than 175 million acres of public lands—an area larger than the states of California, Florida, and Georgia combined. And don’t forget Burgum’s new special mission to censor and silence the American history Trump and his cronies don’t like.
Devastating staffing cuts have left America’s natural heritage dangerously understaffed and visitors at risk, with even more crippling staffing reductions coming under Burgum. Now, as Congress threatens a government shutdown, these already crippled parks face complete collapse – a manufactured disaster that could permanently destroy America’s most beloved parks while Burgum and his Big Oil pals profit from the chaos.
With basic park operations already collapsing across the system, a government shutdown could push America’s parks to a breaking point, causing permanent damages to America’s beloved parks and public lands and creating deadly conditions for the 331 million Americans who visit these treasured landscapes each year.
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
Government Executive: The Interior Department is taking steps to implement layoffs
“The layoffs currently under consideration are expected to be significant, according to three individuals briefed on the plans, potentially doubling the losses Interior has sustained so far and bringing the total reductions at the department to more than one-third of staff that were on board when President Trump took office.”
USA Today: National parks appear to have weathered summer tourism storm despite cuts
“Park advocacy groups who have criticized the Trump budget cuts say remaining park staff hustled to keep visitors happy and safe, but the workload is unsustainable, especially as seasonal employees begin leaving in the coming weeks.”
Wyoming Public Radio: Bipartisan bill that protects national park funding awaits approval
“But she said she’s concerned about a hiring freeze at parks, plus other budget limitations that could impact them long-term. ‘We need funding to make sure that our roads are repaired, we have safe bridges,’ Uberuaga said, in addition to having biologists and researchers to study the park’s iconic wildlife.”
Politico: Shuffling the deck: Interior’s current top brass
“The Interior Department gained three new leaders last week when the Senate approved a group of President Donald Trump’s political nominees, filling out what has been a thin bench of confirmed top brass for the more than 60,000-strong agency that oversees public lands and energy.”
KUAF: National Park Service faces steep staff losses, budget cuts
“What [the cuts] translated into is that a single person could be doing the role of two or three or four. And we’re certainly seeing that right now. With the impacts to staffing, you could see lines when you’re trying to get into a park.”
Privatization and Sell-Offs
My Bellingham Now: Washington state leaders criticize Trump administration’s public lands actions
“‘A generation of Washingtonians has grown up enjoying these lands knowing they were protected from development,’ AG Brown said. ‘Repealing or weakening this rule will increase wildfire risk, degrade our old-growth forests, pollute our waters, threaten our fish and wildlife, and jeopardize culturally important sites for tribes. We’ll oppose this action with every tool available to us.’”
The Cool Down: US officials spark backlash with sudden U-turn impacting public lands: ’Just tipped the scales back to the 19th century’
“The Trump administration is poised to reverse a Biden-era policy aimed at protecting public lands from development and climate impacts. Under a new proposal, many of these lands would no longer be conserved or preserved for recreation but instead used for coal mining, gas and oil drilling, timber production, and agricultural grazing.”
Outdoor Life: More Than 99 Percent of Americans Disapprove of Roadless Rule Rollbacks, According to New Analysis
“The public has spoken and the consensus is overwhelmingly clear. More than 99 percent of Americans are opposed to the Trump Administration’s plan to ditch the Roadless Rule, which protects some of our most cherished hunting and fishing spots on U.S. National Forest land.”
Community Impacts
Washington Post: National parks remove signs about climate, slavery and Japanese detention
“‘Right now, the Trump administration is trying to censor the history told in our national parks and historic sites,’ Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) told the House subcommittee on Federal Lands on Thursday.”
NPR: July 4 wildfire in Grand Canyon still burning, questions about response still unanswered
“Scores of local businesses in northern Arizona’s national park gateway communities like Jacob Lake have felt the pinch after a particularly damaging wildfire season. More than 200,000 acres burned on the north side of the Grand Canyon alone in July and August. Rich Marshall and others are pressing officials to reopen some North Rim viewpoints in hopes for a return of tourists this fall.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: Trump’s interior secretary visited Independence Park as a crowd silently protested his attempt to ’whitewash’ slavery exhibits
“The moment of quiet protest was held as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited the park, mere days after reports emerged that his department plans to alter the President’s House Site, which memorializes the nine people George Washington enslaved in Philadelphia and outlines the contrasting stories of liberty and slavery during the founding of America.”
Stories on the Trail
@NPCA: 📆 Your upcoming national park plans may need a backup plan. If lawmakers fail to reach a funding deal by October 1, a government shutdown could force all 433 park sites across the country to close or partially close their gates or facilities.
@RBReich: National Park Service officials have removed park signs referencing climate change, slavery, Japanese internment during World War II, and the nation’s treatment of Native Americans. It’s the latest escalation of Trump’s attacks on our public lands. Watch:
@CAPenergypolicy: The Trump administration has taken actions that would eliminate existing protections from about 88 million acres of public lands. Including the removal of wildlife habitat protections, the total impact of the rollbacks stretches across more than 175 million acres of U.S. land.
@National_Parks_Traveler: The National Park System has been pulled into the current-day battles of wokeism of sorts through the removal of those, and likely other, interpretive materials in the parks that help us better understand enslaved history. Where it will end, or whether it will be reversed, is unknown.
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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