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A Lesson in Adaptation
The National Parks will be a catastrophe someday, not today
Most people, including me, who are interested in the National Parks expected a catastrophe this summer. Here’s where we are:
The National Park Service has seen a staggering decline in its permanent workforce since the start of the second Trump administration, according to data analyzed by the National Parks Conservation Association.
The NPCA analyzed internal data from the Department of the Interior’s workforce database that reveals the agency has lost 24% of its permanent staff since January, the association said in a news release Thursday. In addition, the park service has only brought on about 4,500 seasonal employees, which is far fewer than the 7,700 that the Trump administration said it would hire back in February, the NPCA found.
The Big Billionaire Blowjob also cuts permanent NPS funding further.
So, are the parks a disaster? Not as far as I can tell, and I follow a lot of media related to the NPS. I saw a report on NBC last night indicating that part of the reason for this is a superhuman effort by Park Service employees, who are really the best of the best of us. The report cited, for example, NPS scientists pitching in to clean toilets until at least a few seasonal employees showed up.
Last year was a record year for park visitation. I’m guessing this year’s visitation will be down somewhat, mainly due to fewer foreign visitors. What’s certain is that the facilities will degrade over time as maintenance is deferred. And a lack of rangers and seasonal employees will have an impact on visitor experience.
Institutions are resilient. They crumble slowly. We need to calibrate our political response accordingly. We need to build a narrative of national ruin caused by the Republican decision to give billionaires tax breaks while wrecking our institutions. That’s a long-term project, and it sure as hell won’t be res ipsa loquitur, which seems to be the current Democratic strategy. (Other than shitting on Mamdani — something they seem to have infinite energy for.)
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