House Advances Budget Bill Reducing National Park Service Staff Amid Peak Visitation

Today, the House of Representatives passed a controversial reconciliation bill that pushes the National Park Service into even further crisis amid chaotic staff cuts, tens of billions in deferred maintenance needs, and the national parks’ busiest, most visited season. Today’s vote claws back promised Inflation Reduction Act funding for essential national park staffing and greenlighting mining development near Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in the same watershed as Voyageurs National Park.

The House bill eliminates all remaining Inflation Reduction Act funding for the National Park Service – including $267 million that could have supported critical park staffing needs. In an agency currently facing a staffing crisis, this move doubles down on the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle a 109-year-old institution. Since January, NPCA estimates the Park Service has lost 13% of its staff due to the administration’s pressured buyouts, deferred resignations and early retirements. And that’s on top of the 20% reduction in staffing the agency has experienced since 2010.

It also includes provisions for mining activities near Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a landscape essential to nearby communities. Voyageurs’ waterways offer world-class fishing and recreational opportunities to thousands of visitors that pump over $20 million into local economies. If mining is permitted in the park’s watershed, it would put communities and visitors at risk. Adding insult to injury, the reconciliation bill proposes increased oil and gas leasing and drilling on public lands, placing nearby parks like Carlsbad Caverns, Grand Teton, and Dinosaur National Monument at risk.

Fortunately, thanks to thousands of park advocates speaking up on behalf of national parks, the final version of the bill removed provisions that would have transferred thousands of acres of public lands in Utah and Nevada to counties and other local entities, which they could auction off to the highest bidder without any public process, environmental review or community engagement. The House also struck a provision that would have forced approval of the Ambler industrial mining road through Gates of the Arctic National Preserve in Northwest Alaska, ignoring the destructive impact this project would have on Alaska Native communities and subsistence food resources, including caribou and salmon.

The bill now moves to the United States Senate, which has the power to amend H.R. 1 or write a new bill that does not include these damaging anti-park provisions.

Statement from Daniel Hart, Director of Clean Energy and Climate Policy, below:

“Thousands of park advocates stood up on behalf of national parks knowing the risk it would pose if Congress opened the door to selling public lands. They made the message clear as day: Our public lands are not for sale. And while that was struck from the bill, we cannot ignore the continued attacks on the National Park Service.

“The failure to follow through on previously committed funding is an unbelievably ill-timed blow to a struggling National Park Service. As we speak, hundreds of millions of visitors are making their way to America’s national parks and nearby communities. And rather than provide support for our overwhelmed park staff, Congress is pushing a bill that will only make matters worse for Americans who not only love their public lands, but pay taxpayer dollars to ensure their protection and care. This reconciliation bill will undoubtedly destabilize park operations and cause damage to the nation’s most valuable natural and cultural resources.

“NPCA will not stop fighting. Congress committed this funding for our national parks, and they owe it to the public to follow through. They must deliver on its promise. We urge the Senate to put a stop to this damaging bill immediately, before we chop any further at a dedicated National Park Service and the people who protect our public lands.”

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About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.6 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.