Secretary Burgum, Tell Us Why

Dear Secretary Burgum,

President Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value.”

Those who visit, enjoy and work so hard to protect our national parks and public lands expect the leader of the Department of the Interior to embody the values once championed by President Theodore Roosevelt — values rooted in a deep respect for our nation’s natural treasures.

Yet, under your leadership, decisions have been made that have placed our nation’s treasured places and the communities that depend on them in jeopardy. From gutting the National Park Service workforce to threats to eliminate land protections for our national monuments to attempting to erase history in our parks, you’ve shown a clear pattern of prioritizing political and private interests over protecting national parks and public lands.

The past ten months have been devastating for the National Park Service. Mass terminations, forced resignations and retirements, attempted elimination of facilities, hiring freezes, withheld grants, and travel bans have pushed an already overwhelmed agency to the brink. You are destroying our national parks from the inside out, brick by brick and ranger by ranger.

Nobody asked for this. Nobody wants this. Nobody benefits when you gut the National Park Service.

The American people, including the 70,000 devoted civil servants you lead, deserve answers. It’s time for you to tell us why.

1. Tell us why you’re forcing park staff to leave parks open and unprotected during the government shutdown

The federal government has shut down, leaving more than 9,000 park staff furloughed without pay. And despite the damage that occurred during the last government shutdown when parks were left open and unprotected, you’ve decided to tempt fate and direct park staff to swing their gates open and hope for the best. Our national parks are already feeling the strain. With few staff to manage visitors, some parks’ parking lots are becoming overcrowded and chaotic, trash is overflowing and human waste is piling up. We’ve seen this before and we know this is just a warning of what’s to come. Making matters worse, just a few months ago you took communications staff away from our national parks, moving them into the Interior Department and leaving parks without the people responsible for keeping visitors and local communities informed. Now, during the shutdown, we’re seeing the consequences in real time. Visitors and communities aren’t getting critical, real-time information about closures, facility conditions or hazards that could put them at risk. At a time when parks need protection most – and when the public needs information the most – you’ve made it impossible for the National Park Service to do its job.

Secretary Burgum, tell us why.

2. Tell us why you want to gut the Park Service workforce

Under your leadership, the Park Service has lost more than 25% of its permanent staff. As a result, parks across the country are cutting ranger programs, closing visitor centers, and falling behind on critical maintenance and research because there just aren’t enough people left to do the job. And even amid the shutdown, reports indicate you’re preparing to further cut staff within the Interior Department, including the National Park Service.

You also continue to double down on your misleading claims about the Park Service workforce, misrepresenting the reality of where and how most park employees serve. You’ve testified in front of Congress that “We got several thousand people working in IT and I don’t know what they do.” Yet, based on your department’s own workforce database, as of May 13, 2025, the Park Service had less than 450 IT and HR positions combined across the entire agency. That’s only 2% of the Park Service’s workforce.

IT professionals ensure dispatchers can communicate with law enforcement, fee collection runs smoothly at park entrances, internal websites and systems function, and staff can communicate with one another, other agencies and communities. This year, Human Resources staff had to act quickly to try to hire 7,700 seasonal park rangers and onboard staff to get them into parks for the busy spring and summer season – though still not enough to staff most parks. Despite how critical these positions are, IT and HR are the exact positions we’re hearing could be targeted in your next round of cuts.

While not every National Park Service employee is stationed inside park boundaries, every single one of them is essential to the health and safety of our parks and all who visit them. From scientists and engineers to IT, human resource and communications experts, these staff keep operations running smoothly and make sure visitors stay informed and safe. You may not know their names, where they work or what they do, but their work touches every visitor, every day. 

Your lack of support for your own staff and your willingness to move forward with further mass staff terminations have left our parks vulnerable and put millions of visitors at unnecessary risk.

Secretary Burgum, tell us why.

3. Tell us why you want to get rid of national parks

Even though millions of people have spoken out in defense of America’s national monuments, you’ve taken steps to strip away protections for sites like Devils Tower and Bears Ears. Additionally, you’ve supported President Trump’s proposed cuts to the National Park Service’s budget to a level so low that it would shutter at least 350 national parks sites across the country – effectively more than 75% of our park system. 

Our national parks and national monuments aren’t just places on a map. They’re our shared legacy, safeguarding the beauty, history and culture of our country. For over a century, Americans have loved and protected our national parks, battlefields, historic sites, recreation areas and so much more. Americans do not agree with your plan to strip away our national parks or their federal protections, but you’ve refused to speak out or defend the very places you’re entrusted to protect.

Secretary Burgum, tell us why.

4. Tell us why you want to erase our history

More than two-thirds of America’s national park sites are devoted to protecting history and culture, from Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument to Gettysburg National Military Park. The Park Service is among our country’s greatest storytellers, guiding millions of visitors every year through America’s complex history of innovation, tragedy, and triumph over adversity.

For over a century, dedicated National Park Service staff have worked tirelessly to preserve, protect, and tell the stories that shaped our nation. But for months, you’ve worked to remove these educational and historical materials from public access, including removing references to slavery and LGBTQ+ history from the National Park Service’s website and signs informing the public on impacts of climate change at Acadia National Park. You’re making it harder for Park Service staff to fulfill their obligation to tell the stories of all Americans and maintain an accurate account of history. You’ve pressured your own staff to contradict crucial scientific and historical facts and compromise essential work they’ve poured their hearts and souls into. You’ve even asked the American people to snitch on parks that dare to share facts about American history.

Secretary Burgum, tell us why.

5. Tell us why you want to trade our future for profit

Under your leadership, the Interior Department has prioritized development over conservation, undermining a core mission of your job. You’ve aggressively sought to expand mining operations on public lands — even near national park boundaries — while ignoring environmental reviews needed to safeguard clean air and water, wildlife habitat, and the visitor experience for millions of people.

Millions of acres across the West are already open to mineral exploration, with more than ten million acres under active claims. Yet, you invite additional mining in fragile regions like the Colorado Plateau, home to more than a dozen national parks, including Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon. And you continue to turn a blind eye as mining laws allow companies to stake claims with minimal oversight, leaving taxpayers to shoulder the enormous costs of cleanup and restoration. Your decisions are eroding public trust and could permanently damage landscapes that define our national heritage.

Secretary Burgum, tell us why.

The American people deserve a Secretary of the Interior who demonstrates a commitment to preserving the integrity of our public lands and their history and culture. We deserve someone who will stand up for what is right for the places that belong to all of us, in the face of political and industry pressures. We deserve a leader who will respect those who have dedicated their careers to protecting public lands and who is committed to working with Tribes, local communities, conservation groups and the public. We deserve a leader who can honor the spirit and the words of Teddy Roosevelt – someone you’ve said you admire—when he said: “Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.” A powerful quote found on the very website under your purview.

And right now, the American people deserve answers.