A Trump Misstep

Why the Trump administration's cuts to the National Park Service is a political miscalculation

National parks are a staple in the United States. Go to any gift shop and look at a postcard of the United States; a national park is probably featured on the front. From the Redwood Forrest in California to Arcadia in Maine, these parks preserve the beauty and awe of America’s diverse natural environment. However, even this universally loved entity has been attacked by the new administration, which could have dire consequences for the parks and the people who enjoy them.

Although the first national park was established in 1872, the National Park Service (NPS) was created in 1916 after a public push for a federal agency to preserve our nation’s “natural and historical objects”. There are 63 official national parks but 433 total sites, which include lakeshores, forests, monuments, and various other entities. These parks span all 50 states plus all territories of the United States¹.

For an interactive plot with names and captions, go to https://underthemicroscope.quarto.pub/national-parks-of-united-states/.

What the National Parks do

Most citizens interact with the parks to enjoy and explore our country’s vast wilderness. Although this is a key part of the National Park Service's mission, there are also many other benefits of having national parks. National parks are there, most importantly, to protect and preserve the wildlife and ecosystems within their boundaries. Many restrictions and legislation are in place to ensure this integral role is met. The parks also are home to scientific research conducted by both park rangers and scientists from outside the NPS. Since these ecosystems, for the most part, are kept free of human interference, they play a vital role in the progression of many scientific fields. Education is another key prerogative within the parks. This mission is accomplished through programs to promote education among its visitors, as well as visitor centers and museums.² Finally, the national parks see, on average, 325.5 million people per year among their 433 total sites. The parks are low cost to visit, allowing for a broad swath of people to enjoy their beauties. The rangers within the parks are in charge of search and rescue as well as cleaning up and maintaining campsites and trails.

The National Parks have seen a recent resurgence in visitation following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump’s Attacks on the National Parks

Trump, in his first few months, has already implemented detrimental policies to the park service. The first of which occurred when the purge of the U.S. government workers started. There is no data from the administration on how many NPS workers were fired, but estimates range from 750 to over 1,000 employees.³ This is a substantial blow to the workforce as the park’s total full-time employees are numbered at 20,000, meaning in one day there was a 5% reduction of the workforce. In addition, about 700 employees took buyouts from the government, further decreasing the NPS workforce. This was already a problem before the cuts, as full-time employees were down 15% between 2011 and 2022⁴. Another alarming issue that has been raised is an attempt to get rid of the Antiquities Act. The Antiquities Act is in place to protect public lands; with the removal of this act, we are one step closer to unrestrained fossil fuel and mining developments for national monuments. Currently, to drill in national parks, there are many regulations and guidelines in place so as not to disturb the environment of the park. Trump’s administration has threatened to remove some regulations to allow for more unfettered use of the parks for drilling. We have already seen more projects being approved for drilling near national parks⁵. Finally, Trump’s administration is planning to terminate many leases under the NPS, which would force many buildings to close. The NPS has museums, visitor centers, and law enforcement offices that are now under threat due to this development. Taking this all into account, the administration has shown a pattern of disrespect towards the NPS and its greater purpose⁶.

The Politics of the Attack on National Parks

I will not lie: while Trump has been “flooding the zone” with constant executive orders, slashing American soft power overseas, a new view on America’s place in the world, immigration immoralities, and threats to our American democracy, the national park issue slid under my radar. However, my Instagram feed was flooded with people speaking out, bringing the issue to my attention. This has hit a certain nerve for many people, and rightfully so. This attack was a particularly unwise political decision, as unlike many issues he has addressed, this issue should have condemnation from both sides of the aisle. I wanted to focus on the 63 officially designated national parks and look into who uses them and how easily accessible they are for the American people. I did a drive time analysis to see how many people were within three hours of a national park (Slightly higher travel time than a typical day trip but well within the bounds of a weekend trip to a national park).⁷ Here were the results:

An interactive map is available at https://underthemicroscope.quarto.pub/national-parks-of-united-states.

As seen in the above map, many people live close to a national park; 33.26% of land in the United States is within a three-hour drive radius. This accounts for around 150 million total Americans living in this region, which is about 40% of the United States population. Making significant decisions that cut funding from the parks affects many Americans. There were also many posts from communities surrounding the parks stating the impact these cuts had. I live by a national lakeshore and saw posts from people who worked at the park describing the impact of these decisions and statements from the park itself. If I were to do this map for all 433 properties, the coverage would undoubtedly be 100%. This was a policy decision whose impacts were seen by many people in their backyard.

If people don’t use the parks, then this issue may fall on deaf ears, but this is not the case. As stated previously, each year, the NPS sees an average of 325.5 million people. A study was conducted in the Journal of National Leisure from 2008-2009 that surveyed 4,103 people to look into the demographic makeup of those who visit national parks.⁸

Overall, only 11% of people in the United States had never visited a NPS site. Although there are significant differences among the demographics, the highest percentage of people who had never visited was 26%, meaning even amongst this group, 74% of people had visited before. This is credit to the universal appeal of the parks. Let’s compare this with the demographics of those who voted for Trump in the 2024 election.

Looking at the data, some of the demographics where Trump performed best were also where the highest reported park usage was. This was the case among white and older Americans. Even though this same pattern did not hold for gender, education, and income, there was still large park usage across these demographics. Many people who voted for Trump are extensive users of the national parks.

This speaks to a broader issue within this new administration. They have picked fights time and again that show a disregard for the people who put him in office and the general citizens’ wishes. Many Trump supporters have lost their jobs, government contracts, and government funding due to the chainsawing of the bureaucracy. He has shown time and time again a complete disregard for anyone or anything besides himself, and the attack of the NPS is an embodiment of this personal philosophy.

1. https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/675629

2. https://nps.gov

3. https://www.axios.com/2025/03/05/national-park-federal-workers-layoffs-trump

4. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5307908/national-parks-layoffs-visitors-disruptions#:~:text=NPS%20officials%20have%20testified%20that,close%20or%20limit%20their%20hours.

5. https://www.npca.org/articles/6713-parks-group-responds-to-new-order-threatening-national-monuments

6. A directive today was also announced that the NPS would not be publishing visitor statistics anymore, making many charts shown today impossible to do. This is yet another move that further exemplifies the lack of transparency shown by the current administration.

7. Drive Time assumes no traffic and the person is traveling at the road’s assigned speed limit. Additionally some parks had small drive times as they are not easily reachable through roads.

8. https://faculty.cnr.ncsu.edu/jerrylee/wp-content/uploads/sites/23/2022/07/2021-Xiao-nonvisitor-JLR.pdf