By Annabel Simmons

Towering mountains peaked with snow, their rugged ridges cutting through the clouds, lush forests draped in greenery, pristine waters with rushing currents and cascading waterfalls — United States public lands preserve much of America’s most treasured landscapes and ecosystems. From national parks to national monuments, these lands offer far more than just natural splendor, rendering recreational opportunities, wildlife conservation, cultural preservation and economic benefits. Yet, there are growing notions that these cherished public lands may undergo significant transformations under President Donald Trump’s administration, but what exactly does this entail?

The federal government manages approximately 640 million acres of public land, with administration taking place primarily under four land management agencies — the National Park Service (NPS), Forest Service (USFS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). All agencies differ in their management purposes, yet they all play a vital role in guarding the nation’s natural resources in federally owned parks, forests, refuges, historic sites and more.

In February, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new advisory body under the Trump administration, terminated thousands of federal employees within public land agencies. Those within the probationary period, the one-to-two-year period before civil servants receive final appointments, were primarily targeted by the layoffs. Sixty-three national parks and over 400 national park units were left critically understaffed right before the busy summer season.

Proper management and funding are required to ensure that these lands and ecosystems remain resilient. The implications that come with inadequate funds and staff have been seen in the past. When Yellowstone National Park was established as the first federally protected national park in 1872, it lacked the resources to uphold basic structures and hire law enforcement rangers. Ineffective administration of the park led to immense destruction of wildlife, as poachers, squatters, woodcutters and vandals were rampant throughout Yellowstone, according to the NPS website. 

National parks are in desperate need of structured management by professionals who understand the unique needs of these preserves. The insufficient administration of Yellowstone from 1872 to the early 1900s demonstrated this need, laying the groundwork for the establishment of an agency dedicated solely to overseeing national parks: The National Park Service.

With a vast background in geological and environmental sciences, stone and architectural restoration, cultural heritage management and geology, Dr. Tom Paradise is a university professor of geoscience, who has taught at the University of Arkansas since 2000. 

Paradise explained that U.S. public lands serve in diverse ways to preserve and conserve natural resources. National parks, under the U.S. National Parks Organic Act of 1916, were originally established to preserve natural landscapes for recreation, study and appreciation. “‘Preserved’ is a legal term that is about leaving ‘as is’ and in its original state for posterity,” Paradise said. This act prohibits mining on all national park lands. Under the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, National Forests were established to conserve forests and water resources, permitting the use of resources in a sustainable manner. Conservation is a legal term that implies sustainable use.

With the recent cuts to federal employees in land management agencies, many of the problems Yellowstone faced over a century ago could reemerge. Paradise explained that “understaffing will probably facilitate an unsupervised use of parks — like animal poaching and hunting, devastation of the landscape and water diversion — and forests — like illegal logging, clear-cutting, water diversion and resource exploitation that cannot be sustained. Imagine spray-painting Half Dome in Yosemite or dying the prismatic hot spring in Yellowstone.” 

Prior to the recent layoffs, land management agencies were already underfunded and understaffed, raising concerns about the potential effects of further cuts. Many of these federal employees reside in the communities that they support, and through a deep commitment to the lands, they perform work that is crucial to the health, safety, accessibility of public lands. Within the NPS, employees are responsible for managing trails, campgrounds and facilities. Their jobs also involve assisting visitors, responding to emergencies and monitoring wildlife. 

The Trump administration is also poised to end several NPS leases and offices, which serve as visitor centers, law enforcement offices, museums and other places essential to park services. These sites are vital for archeologists, scientists, superintendents and others to perform their work. Additionally, these buildings store millions of important artifacts that must be kept in climate-controlled facilities, as stated by the National Parks Conservation Association. 

Further implications may include the potential closure of trails, campgrounds and visitor centers.  Concerns have also been raised for public safety, as public land employees, such as park rangers, inform visitors about local wildlife and weather conditions, assist in medical emergencies, conduct search and rescue operations and oversee wildfires.

Caroline Cheek is a junior who is double majoring in environmental, soil and water science and english and minoring in geography at the U of A. She is also an intern for the Office for Sustainability, primarily working with biodiversity and communications. Cheek addressed the importance of national parks, emphasizing their role in biodiversity and ecosystem protection. “The national parks encompass some really unique landscapes and diverse biomes that are dwindling as climate change and greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the planet, so having our national parks to help safeguard those ecosystems is super important,” Cheek explained. “They also help protect culturally significant sites.” Additionally, national parks generate significant revenue for the national economy and local communities For these reasons, Cheek said it is crucial to have proper staffing in parks. 

“Globally, we’re in a population crisis, and being able to understand and research how to use our resources wisely, with the future in mind, is so important,” Cheek said.

In 2010, Cheek moved to Arkansas from Colorado. Having lived next to the Rocky Mountains, she admitted that she wasn’t expecting much from Arkansas lands, but her perspective shifted quickly once she arrived. “When we got here, it was just stunning,” Cheek said. “Arkansas is so beautiful. You hear Appalachian songs about the rolling hills and the deep woods and just like these beautiful rivers, and this place is incredible. I’ve spent so many days out at the Buffalo (River) paddling, camping, climbing, and it’s just so joyful spending time in nature and having this public land for people to love and access and use.”

The National Park Service oversees nine areas in Arkansas: Arkansas Post National Memorial, Buffalo National River, Butterfield Overland Historic Trail, Fort Smith Historic Site, Hot Springs National Park, Little Rock Central High School Historic Site, Pea Ridge National Military Park, President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home Historic Site and Trail of Tears Historic Trail. 

Many of these destinations were affected by the reductions in the federal workforce. Located at the Hot Springs National Park, The Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center and Museum serves as one of eight historic bathhouses, where visitors may speak with park rangers and receive vital information. Recently, the bathhouse was forced to reduce its operating hours. The Buffalo Point Ranger Station, at Buffalo National River, also closed until further notice, according to the parks website.

Stacy Ramsey was one of four Buffalo National River employees terminated Feb. 14. Ramsey shared her story in a Facebook post the day after she was fired, stating that she lost her “dream job.” In the post, she explained that her termination was based on her “probationary” status, as she was in the first year of a four-year Individual Retirement Account (IRA) funded term position. Her primary position was as river ranger, but she had worked in various positions in the park for five years. Ramsey was part of the visitor and resource protection division, spending most of her time ensuring the safety of visitors through preventive search and rescue education.

Mabrie Baldwin, a sophomore studying earth science at the U of A, commented on how meaningful national parks and public lands are to her. “There’s just something different about being in nature,” she said.

Baldwin has ventured to many national parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, Arches, Grand Canyon, Big Bend, Redwood, Denali and Indiana Dunes. She remarked on her time at Redwood National Park as one of her most memorable experiences. “I remember hugging this tree, and my brothers and I’s arms together didn’t even fit around it,” she said. During 2022, she went to the Grand Canyon. “We hiked rim to rim, and it took us almost 12 hours, but it was so beautiful,” she said. “It was also a bonding experience because we met so many new people.” 

Baldwin transferred to the U of A after spending her freshman year at the University of Central Oklahoma, where there are no current national parks. “One of the biggest draws to Arkansas, specifically, was the nature and how close it is to so many national and state parks,” Baldwin said. 

Alongside national parks, several national monuments may be jeopardized, such as the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in northern California and the Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California. Featuring scenic mountains and canyons, Chuckwalla spans 624,270 acres of federal land, primarily managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Sáttítla includes 224,676 acres of national forest land and is a haven for bald eagles, salmon and black bears. The lands are sacred to Indigenous peoples, who advocated monument status to prevent activities like logging, mining and energy development. 

In a White House fact sheet published March 14, it was stated that proclamations of new national monuments may be terminated, as they “lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production,” according to the Mercury news. However, the provision was later deleted from the sheet, leaving the fates of these monuments unclear.

There may be similar motivations behind terminating newly established national monuments and federal employees of public land agencies. President Trump has made misleading claims of a “current energy crisis emergency”  in the U.S., stating that because of this “crisis,” it may be necessary to permit mineral and oil exploration, drilling and mining on national park and national  monument lands. Paradise explained that this notion of an energy crisis is false, as petroleum production in the U.S. alone is far greater than that of Saudi Arabia and Russia. 

“John Muir called our national parks ‘lands as sacred as the cathedrals of Earth,’” Paradise said. “Most U.S. public lands and national parks scholars, lawyers, environmentalists and the American public at large are terrified at the notion that laws and policies can be manipulated to permit mining in ‘sacred’ lands like America’s great parks, often called ‘our best idea’ and ‘crown jewels’ like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Smoky Mountains and Joshua Tree.”

There is a possible connection between the layoffs of federal employees, the defunding of many of the agencies responsible for maintaining public lands and the potential terminations of national monuments to the president’s discussion of permitting energy development on public lands because of an energy crisis.

This raises questions over whether the recent cuts may be part of an effort to privatize these lands for potential energy development. “The point of this ‘might’ be to set up a degrading or degraded landscape that will shift public perception and opinion from federal trust protection to private interest sale, use and exploitation,” Paradise said. “Many of the American public lands workers, scholars, lawyers and again the polled public-at-large, believe that the connection is real, obvious and dangerously close to happening.” Possible emergency-driven mining and drilling on public lands has been supported by the idea of an energy crisis. 

Opening public lands to extractive industries and corporate development, particularly to increase fossil fuel production, could have many harmful implications. Mining technologies and extractive industries are extremely environmentally degrading. “Their effect on the landscape is enormous and at a scale often inconceivable,” Paradise said. Extensive mining, specifically, would likely disrupt these lands, with both short- and long-term implications. 

“Such a notion to drill, excavate and mine on these unique landscapes is not only a current travesty but a devastating ‘gift’ to our children and all national and global posterity,” Paradise said. 

To preserve the natural grandeur within Arkansas and other U.S. landscapes, we must support the agencies working to protect public lands.