America’s Best Idea is in Grave Danger
A former National Park Service leader on the plunder of America’s public lands.
By Cheryl Schreier
As we look back on all America has accomplished over its 250 years, our national park and public land system stands out. Often called “America’s best idea,” national parks and monuments have conserved iconic landscapes, protected historical fact, saved dwindling species, and offered the opportunity for all Americans to connect with nature.
This administration claims to support this history, even opening a new presidential library for President Teddy Roosevelt—the greatest champion of our national parks—this year on July 4th. But in reality, their actions have put our national parks and public lands in crisis, endangering the very future that President Roosevelt envisioned.
As the former superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, I understand the connection between our country’s legacy and the preservation of our parks. To put it simply: Our public lands maintain pieces of our history alongside some of the most beautiful places we have the privilege to explore in America.
President Roosevelt experienced this firsthand. First visiting the Dakotas on a bison hunting trip in the early 1880s, he was immediately taken with the badlands there, valuing “the silent places … unworn of man, and changed only by the slow change of the ages through time everlasting.” After returning upon the death of his wife and mother, he also found the healing power of nature, solidifying a lifelong love for the wilderness, and ultimately inspiring him to initiate our national parks system.
Since taking office last year, this administration has taken step after step to dismantle this system. One of its first actions was to begin cutting National Park Service staff, ultimately letting go of about 25% of the workforce—which was already struggling to manage record-breaking visitation rates. The administration also has attempted to slash the National Park Service budget. In its most recent proposal, the administration suggested eliminating $870 million in funding, while allowing $10 billion for “beautification” projects just around Washington, D.C. Thankfully, Congress rejected such egregious proposals, but the threat remains.
But it’s not just the National Park Service. The administration is also going after our National Monuments. Earlier this month, the president signed an executive order shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. This is a grave mistake, eliminating protections for lands honored by Native Americans, reducing opportunities for recreation for all Americans, and putting critical wildlife habitat at risk—including more than 1.2 million acres of big game migration corridors.
The Antiquities Act has always been a cornerstone of America’s public land policy, signed into law by President Roosevelt himself, allowing for the president to designate national monuments as important protected areas. Over its history, the Act has been used by an equal number of Republican and Democratic presidents to conserve some of our most treasured places. Many of our national parks, from the Grand Canyon to Death Valley, began as monuments themselves.
The massive NPS cuts we’re seeing were made possible by a Justice Department opinion issued last year, claiming that the president has the authority to rescind or abolish national monuments. The Supreme Court itself has repeatedly rejected challenges to the Antiquities Act, but this administration is doing its best to find a way around these judicial findings. Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are likely only the first step: The Washington Post reported last year that this administration is looking to scale back six national monuments in total.
The administration is taking aim at our national parks in order to enrich the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the American people. All six monuments reported to be in danger, including Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, are considered ripe for oil and gas extraction. This, even though in a poll earlier this year, 76% of Western voters prefer to protect public lands rather than maximizing energy production.
Americans’ desire to protect our public lands makes sense not just because of our national legacy, but because these spaces are economically important for local communities. A 2020 study of communities near monuments established in recent decades found that they brought more business and more jobs, encouraging local economies.
It’s not just President Roosevelt; there is a long and ongoing tradition of bipartisan support for conservation and public lands. As we look at what brings us together on our 250th anniversary, this is an important aspect of our shared history as Americans. Our representatives must protect laws like the Antiquities Act, protect our National Park Service, and protect the lands that Teddy Roosevelt believed were worth preserving for future generations to come.
Cheryl Schreier retired as Superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial after nearly 40 years of service with the National Park Service (NPS) in May 2019. Prior to her tenure at Mount Rushmore, she also served as superintendent of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, and completed a detail as acting superintendent at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. She is currently the chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.
Trump's attitude toward national parks and wild lands is: "If you can't eat it, drink it, spend it, or rape it, what good is it?" Except, of course, for Mt. Rushmore, which he wants to "beautify" by adding his own portrait! He's plundering our wilderness at an unprecedented rate, and the courts are all that stands between wild places and oil rigs and open pit mines!
The more I hear about this decimation of our public lands, the angrier and sadder I get. This regime is truly the most short sighted, ignorant and arrogant bunch of self-serving narcissists. The destruction is unforgivable and should they should face consequences for their irresponsible actions.