The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks

The Coalition has submitted a letter urging EPA to safeguard this essential rule and ensure continued progress toward clear skies in 156 parks and wilderness areas.

📄 Read the full letter: protectnps.org/2025/12/01/p...

The EPA is proposing “alternative approaches” to the Regional Haze Rule, changes that could allow more pollution and undo decades of progress.

Rep. @joeneguse.bsky.social laid out exactly how the shutdown and this administration’s priorities have intensified the crisis on our public lands.

We’re grateful for his leadership and for highlighting what’s really at stake.

📽️ Watch the clip below

This #GivingTuesday, our national parks need us more than ever. Funding is shrinking, public lands are under threat, and efforts to erase our history are growing.

💚 Donate today to help us continue to Protect Our Parks: protectnps.org/donate

Foreign Visitors Hit With Much Higher National Parks Fees The Trump administration will levy a $100 surcharge for each foreigner at 11 national parks and eliminate free entry on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and Juneteenth.

Foreign visitors could soon pay $100 more per person at 11 major parks, on top of entrance fees.

Annual pass for non-residents: $250.
New “resident-only” free days

This could hurt communities, burden staff & turn our parks into America’s greatest shakedown.

www.forbes.com/sites/garyst...

🌲 Push for restored budgets and staffing
🛠 Hold the Administration accountable for harmful policies
🎙 Elevate the Voices of Experience who know what’s at stake
🛡 Mobilize the public before damage becomes irreversible

Make an annual gift today: protectnps.org/donate

The shutdown worsened an already fragile system, staff cuts, lost revenue, weakened protections, and delayed science won’t fix themselves.

A graphic with "Happy Thanksgiving" lettering on top of Grand Teton National Park

Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁 We’re grateful for our public lands, and for everyone who works to protect them. From rangers on the front lines to supporters who raise their voices, thank you for helping safeguard these places we love.

The Coalition has sent a letter to Sec. Burgum raising serious concerns about actions that undermine the National Park Service’s historic mission and threaten the integrity of America’s cultural heritage, including the East Wing demolition.

Read the full letter → protectnps.org/2025/11/19/c...

The gov’t reopened. The crisis in our national parks did not end.

🔻 43 days with minimal/no staff
🔻 Lost fee revenue & delayed projects
🔻 Damage at Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Gettysburg, Arches
🔻 Nearly 25% of NPS staff already gone this year

Read our memo ⬇️
protectnps.org/2025/11/13/g...

What appears to be recently painted graffiti has been spotted in Arches National Park’s Devils Garden area.

With limited staff during the shutdown, acts like this highlight the need for strong protection of our parks.

Read more ⤵️
www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/11/graf...

Today, we honor and thank the veterans who have dedicated their lives to serving our nation.

From all of us at the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, thank you for your service and for defending the ideals that make this country, and its treasured lands, worth protecting.

Coalition Expresses Opposition To Planned Killing Of Forest Owls In National Parks The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks expressed its opposition to the planned killing of forest owls in 14 units of the National Park System in a recent letter to Colorado Senator Michael ...

The USFWS plans to kill thousands of barred owls, even inside 14 parks.

The goal: protect spotted owls.
The reality: a mass shooting program with no proven benefit and lasting ecological harm.

We’re urging Congress to pass S.J.Res. 69 to stop it.
www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/10/coal...

This Halloween, the scariest thing isn’t ghosts, it’s watching our National Park Service fight to keep the lights on. It’s time to restore staffing, funding, and leadership across the National Park System.

Join us in defending America’s most treasured places.

👻 Nothing’s scarier than haunted houses in our national parks — unless you count the real horror of understaffed parks, underfunded programs, a looming RIF, and a government shutdown with no end in sight. Our parks and those who protect them deserve more than ghost crews and vanishing budgets.

What Happens To America's World Heritage Sites Once The US Withdraws From UNESCO? - Islands As the United States has withdrawn from UNESCO under President Donald Trump, how will this impact the U.S.'s heritage sites and national landmarks?

The U.S. plans to withdraw from UNESCO by Dec. 2026, leaving the future of our 26 🇺🇸 World Heritage Sites — from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty — uncertain.

Loss of global funding & cooperation could deepen the NPS’s ongoing staffing crisis.

www.islands.com/1997714/what...

Busiest U.S. National Park Loses $8 Million A Day As Advocates Urge Its Closure Amid Government Shutdown Locals fight to keep America's No. 1 national park open as it loses millions, but advocates want it closed during the government shutdown.

The Great Smoky Mountains NP is losing $8M/day during the government shutdown, the highest among all parks.

450+ former NPS leaders, incl. our Coalition, urge closures until parks can be properly staffed again.

“Our parks don’t run by themselves."

www.thetravel.com/great-smoky-...

Video Nonprofit executive: ‘National parks should be closed during government shutdown’ Emily Thompson, the executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks recommends people stay out of national parks to help protect resources and visitor safety.

“If we don’t have park rangers, we shouldn’t be visiting national parks.” — Emily Thompson, CPANP Executive Director, on ABC news.

The shutdown leaves parks understaffed and unsafe. It’s time to protect rangers, visitors, and our public lands.

abcnews.go.com/US/video/non...

We will continue to stand with our Tribal, local, and national partners to fight this project.

The Coalition remains strongly opposed to this destructive, proposed mining project. This road was rejected already due to impacts to Alaska Native communities and the potential harm to habitat, migration corridors, and wildlife such as caribou and salmon.

UPDATE | Interior Department Issues Rights Of Way For Ambler Road In Alaska Determined to punch through a more than 200-mile-long road across a wild, remote section of Alaska, the Trump administration on Thursday granted the rights-of-way for the road and transferred nearly 2...

The recent decision by the Interior Department to issue rights-of-way for the Ambler Road threatens one of the largest intact wild landscapes in America, crossing the Kobuk River and the Gates of the Arctic region.

www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/10/upda...

More than 450 former National Park Service leaders are calling on Interior Secretary Burgum to close national parks as dangerous incidents escalate during the shutdown.

“Our parks can’t operate without dedicated staff.”

Full letter ➡️ protectnps.org/2025/10/23/m...

Court Filings Reveal Secretary Burgum’s Plans to Terminate Key National Park Staff "Secretary Burgum’s actions are making it impossible for the Park Service to protect the very places and resources Americans hold dear." - Theresa Pierno, NPCA's President and CEO

New court filings confirm Interior Secretary Burgum’s plans to slash thousands of jobs — including hundreds across the National Park Service.

These cuts would devastate an already overstretched agency that’s lost more than a quarter of its workforce.

Read more: www.npca.org/articles/111...

As tourists continue to visit national parks and DC, advocates and local businesses warn about long-term impact of shutdown | CNN Politics The government shutdown didn’t deter 26-year-old Nudrat Mahajabin from visiting Grand Canyon National Park earlier this month, even though the signs were clear: No entrance fees would be collected, th...

As tourists visit national parks during the shutdown, rangers remain furloughed & safety risks grow.

“Parks need safety and preventive messaging. Rangers and Park Service staff do a lot to keep people safe and prevent risks.” — Emily Thompson, CPANP

Read more from CNN: www.cnn.com/2025/10/20/p...

Our parks deserve protection, not neglect. Congress must act to end this shutdown and restore full staffing across the National Park Service.

That means:
🛑 No rangers on duty for search and rescue
🛑 No emergency response teams
🛑 No trash collection or restroom maintenance
🛑 No protection for wildlife and cultural sites

If you love our parks, the best way to protect them right now is to delay your visit until staff can return safely.

America's parks remain open, but not protected.

The government shutdown has left most National Park Service staff furloughed, while parks across the country remain open without essential services.

Congress must act now to end this shutdown, fund our public lands, and ensure every park employee receives the pay and respect they deserve.

Others have been furloughed, unable to report to duty or support their families through no fault of their own.

To all park staff, we see you, we stand with you, and we thank you. Our parks couldn’t exist without your dedication.

As the government shutdown continues, thousands of National Park Service employees are facing impossible circumstances.

Many are working without pay, protecting visitors, wildlife, and resources out of deep commitment to the mission they love.