The Trump administration has proposed reducing the National Park Service’s budget by 25% to ensure the agency’s “long-term health.”
This could include handing over some of the sites it oversees to states.
This probably wouldn’t include national treasures like Zion, Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. The president’s budget proposal is looking at places that aren’t parks in the “traditionally understood sense.”
They could be monuments, recreation areas or historic sites with “small numbers of mostly local visitors,” according to the budget request.
Giving these sites to states could amount to a nearly $1 billion cut for the Park Service. Wyoming state Sen. Bob Ide (R-Casper) said that is a good thing.
“Our country monetarily, fiscally is insolvent,” Ide said. “There's gonna have to be some pain everywhere and the national parks and national monuments can't be immune to that.”
Ide is part of a camp in the West which wants to see most federal land handed over to states, and said this proposal is a good start. He said states would manage these lands more efficiently, which could include raising fees or selling off parcels.
But it’s unclear what that would look like, since there’s little precedent of states managing National Park Service land.
One of the closest examples is government shutdowns. Utah, Arizona and Colorado have some experience providing essential services at national parks during these lapses in federal appropriations.
Natalie Randall, managing director at the Utah Office of Tourism, said if the president’s proposal goes through, her state would likely adapt if necessary.
“That would always be our priority to engage with communities to maintain those conversations,” Randall said.
It’s unclear if states have the resources necessary to manage more sites.
One critic, the National Parks Conservation Association’s President and CEO Theresa Pierno, called the proposal an “all-out assault on America’s national parks.”
It’s up to congress members to decide if they want to turn the president’s proposal into law.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
