Theodore Roosevelt, to whom Donald Trump has likened himself, used his executive power to double the size of the national park system and expand protection of American natural landscapes and historic landmarks. He strongly supported a merit-based civil service that now includes the 100-year-old National Park Service (NPS).
This small agency (its 2020 budget was one-fifteenth of one percent of the overall federal budget) has as its mission preserving “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations”. Public surveys repeatedly show that Americans rank the National Park Service the highest among all federal agencies. Last year there were over 330 million visits to the parks, more than professional baseball, football, basketball and the Disney amusement parks combined.
Roosevelt, visiting Grand Canyon national park in 1903, proclaimed:
Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American if he can travel at all should see.
Yet today the Trump administration has turned its back on his role model’s wisdom. Bolstered by “free market acolytes” that have long pursued the parks as unrealized business opportunities, antipathy to public service, and the absence of congressional oversight, privatizing our national parks is now in their sights. Every American, Republicans and Democrats alike, should be outraged and determined in voicing their objections.
The administration’s plan is as clear and stunning as the sun rising over the Grand Canyon. First, severely slash the budget of the NPS, force retirements of dedicated and experienced NPS leaders, terminate the employment of those who refuse, cut the staffs of parks and historic sites, and replace park superintendents with political appointees ready to do the private sector’s bidding. Then, with failure as the goal, ignore the concerns of the public, the outdoor recreation industry, conservationists, and the communities near parks (many with Republican town governments) that are dependent upon visitor tourism for jobs and services.
Next, the administration will claim the private sector can better run (read “exploit”) the parks that the administration purposely set up to fail. Trump officials will begin to find ways around the law, Congress and the public to eliminate the NPS and centralize control among the Doge staff embedded at the Department of the Interior as a step toward putting the parks in the hands of private developers. The first to be privatized will be what they see as “cash cows” – parks with high visitation and profit potential, such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. The Trump administration will suggest this is just a “pilot program” but the real intent is to test if the public, the courts and Congress can be safely ignored. If successful, the privatizing will expand to the sale, transfer or abandonment of the smaller park sites, such as Teddy Roosevelt’s home at Sagamore Hill national historic site. As clear evidence of this direction, on 2 May, the Trump administration released its fiscal year 2026 discretionary budget request proposing a $900m cut to the NPS budget and stated: “There is an urgent need to streamline staffing and transfer certain properties to State-level management.”
What is at risk? This is not a concession operating a park lodge or a contractor keeping a campground clean. This is taking the people’s parks and giving them over to corporations with profit motives that will push for resort developments for the extremely wealthy and ticketed bison petting zoos for the general public. Turning national parks into entertainment venues – a zipline down the Grand Canyon from where Roosevelt once stood, or an exclusive golf course in Yosemite valley.
What can be done to prevent this great harm to what has been called “America’s best idea”? A bipartisan effort within Congress is necessary to exert proper oversight and demand fidelity to the law regarding the national park system as a public resource. The mayors and city councils of the small towns in red and blue states that serve as gateway communities to the parks can make clear that weakening the National Park Service and privatizing the parks will affect their seasonal economy. The $800bn outdoor recreation industry can declare its existence is dependent upon keeping the public’s land public and the parks managed by the National Park Service and its dedicated employees. Citizens – regardless of political party – must defend the extraordinary privilege of passing the national parks on unimpaired to their children and grandchildren.
And President Trump should perhaps reread the words of President Roosevelt: What you can do is keep it … for all that come after you.
Jonathan B Jarvis served as the 18th director of the National Park Service. Gary Machlis served as science adviser to the NPS director from 2009 to 2017. They are co-authors of The Future of Conservation in America: A Chart for Rough Water, published in 2018.
