The Threat

In the first month of the Trump administration, more than 1,000 permanent National Park Service (NPS) and 3,000 US Forest Service (USFS) workers were fired, and a hiring freeze was imposed that impacted the hiring for seasonal employees critical to the summer operation of public lands and recreation. The affected positions include every aspect of operations from trail maintenance and search and rescue, to visitor services, maintenance and fire protection. All of this comes at a time when, even before Trump’s inauguration, these agencies were trying to manage surging demand for recreation with stagnant budgets, impacting both the visitor experience and the protection of these priceless resources. To make things worse, the Trump administration has also talked about selling off some public lands, rescinding protections and and increasing logging and mineral extraction. The exact impact of Trump’s policies on public lands is unknown, hiring freezes for some positions have been lifted and some workers have been restored, at least temporarily, but the direction of the administration’s policies is clear.

The Lands and Recreation

In Washington State, over 8 million acres of recreation lands, over 74% of the state’s total, are owned and managed by Federal agencies, not just NPS and USFS, but BLM, The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the US Bureau of Recreation and several branches of the US Military. The Federal government also owns almost 67% of the state’s total public campgrounds, 66% of trail miles and 20% of water access points. Congress needs to demand protection for these assets: both adequate funding so that they can be operated safely and maintained for future generations, and guarantees that they will not be sold off to the highest bidder.