The former director of the US National Park Service has issued a stark warning, describing the potential impact of Donald Trump's presidency on America's cherished national parks as a "nightmare". Jonathan Jarvis, who led the agency from 2009 to 2017, urged Americans to "raise hell" to protect these natural treasures.
Agency in the Hands of 'Ideologues'
Jarvis claimed the National Park Service is now controlled by a "bunch of ideologues" who would willingly watch it "go down in flames". He expressed concern that figures within the Trump administration view iconic parks from Yellowstone to Yosemite as potential "cash cows", ripe for privatisation.
The warning comes amid ongoing alarm about the effects of the recent federal government shutdown, which lasted for 42 days - the longest in US history. During this period, most National Park Service workers were furloughed while the Trump administration made the controversial decision to keep all national parks open to visitors.
Consequences of Remaining Open
Keeping parks open with skeleton staff during the shutdown had significant consequences, according to veteran park service officials. A fire at Joshua Tree national park burned through approximately 72 acres, while Yosemite experienced a wave of illegal base jumping. Yellowstone National Park grappled with dangerous "bear jams" - traffic congestion caused by visitors stopping to watch wildlife.
Vandalism incidents included graffiti in Arches National Park and damage to a stone wall at Gettysburg National Military Park. Various sites saw accumulating trash as maintenance staff were furloughed.
Jarvis, who faced intense scrutiny including a five-hour Congressional grilling and calls for his resignation after closing all 401 national park sites during a previous shutdown in October 2013, defended his decision. His team had concluded that keeping parks open with minimal staff would put both visitors and the parks themselves at risk.
Thousands of National Park Service workers are typically responsible for guiding visitors safely, performing rescues, managing traffic, monitoring wildlife, and protecting the landscape. "You take all of that away - all of those employees - you basically are, on one hand, creating unsafe conditions for the visitor," Jarvis stated, adding that it puts "these irreplaceable resources at risk".
Warnings Ignored
More than 40 former national park superintendents warned Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in September that parks were "in jeopardy" if kept open during a shutdown. This was followed last month by a letter from more than 450 former national park officials again urging Burgum to close the parks. Both communications reportedly went unanswered.
When contacted for comment, a Department of the Interior spokesperson stated that President Trump had "worked tirelessly" to minimise the shutdown's impact. "It's easy to criticize from the sidelines, but the reality is that the administration prioritized stability, safety, and service to the American people," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson defended the decision to keep certain operations running as "deliberate, lawful decisions to protect essential operations that sustain America's energy security, economic stability, and public safety".
Long-term Environmental Concerns
Now the shutdown has ended, Jarvis acknowledged that service staff will "bust their butts" to clean up the national parks, but he remains concerned about lasting environmental impacts.
He highlighted particular concerns about trash accumulation in mountain parks like Rocky Mountain and Mount Rainier, where black and grizzly bears are currently fattening up for hibernation. If bears access human food waste, they can become habituated, potentially leading to dangerous human encounters or the bears being killed.
"By not picking up trash in the parks, letting it accumulate, fall out of the cans ... you're setting up for an impact down the road," Jarvis explained. "And these are things that the administration could care less about, frankly, because obviously they're not doing anything about it."
Systematic Undermining of the Park Service
The National Park Service was founded in 1916 with a dual mission: to promote public enjoyment of national parks and monuments while conserving them for future generations. Under the Trump administration, the NPS workforce has reportedly shrunk by as much as 24% amid hundreds of layoffs, with thousands more staff resigning or retiring.
The agency has been without a permanent director for the duration of Trump's first term. "I don't get why you would mess up something that is highly popular with the American people, unless you've got just sort of an axe to grind," Jarvis commented.
He divides Trump-appointed officials at the Department of the Interior into two camps: those trying to set the NPS "up to fail" as pretext for privatising popular parks, and others focused on "facade management" - preserving visible staff like rangers while cutting essential backroom roles including scientists, paleontologists, historians and landscape architects.
Jarvis emphasised that these behind-the-scenes staff are critical, responsible for crafting trails, designing maps, treating water, restoring meadows, tackling invasive plants and monitoring wildlife disease. "All of that activity that goes on behind the scenes is what raises the quality of the experience, and the quality of the stewardship of the resource," he stated.
The Threat of Privatisation
Conservationists fear that selling off national parks or allowing corporate control would undermine decades of conservation work. "The private sector can do entertainment very well," said Jarvis. "But the profit motive is not there for conservation."
He contrasted authentic national park experiences with commercial alternatives: "I've been to Disneyland. I've been to Disney World. They love ripping off the park service. They'll have a fake geyser. They'll have all kinds of entertaining kinds of things. But it's not real."
"And I think the value proposition here for the parks is that this is real. Those are real wildlife. That's a real bison. And it's not behind a fence. I think the private sector would muck it up."
Call to Action
Despite his concerns, Jarvis expressed confidence that broad bipartisan support would protect the National Park Service from the most extreme plans. "I don't think Congress will let the administration get away with completely dismantling the park service," he said. "But I do think the Trump administration will continue to try."
He urged Americans to help protect national parks by contacting their Congressional representatives, donating to advocacy groups, and volunteering to help clean up parks after the shutdown. "There's going to be a big mess," Jarvis predicted, noting that several hundred thousand volunteers assist in national parks each year.
Most importantly, he added: "Raise hell! Stand out there with everybody else, and their signs. Just because we're going back to work here, with the shutdown [over], doesn't mean this nightmare is over. They still have big designs on hurting this stewardship institution."
