National Parks have been a large part in conserving the world’s ecosystems. From mountain regions to coral reefs national parks are labeled are protected as a way to conserve nature from destruction. However, in recent times less and less funding are going to these parks and with the current president backing out of the paris agreement it is up to debate, are the national parks doomed to fail?
National Parks are a big part of what people enjoy. Some people dedicate their life to protecting these parks. But with the current government and the facts that the leaders of the country do not like nature and like to think of it more as useless for business the Parks might be receiving cuts there budget and will be more limited that they already are.
National Parks are very big in some people’s perspective. Many people decide to vacations there just to see the great place that they are preserving. One Triton alum James Kay originally planned to go into being a Park Ranger at a National Park. He said that he wanted to be a park ranger because he wanted to “teach and show the beauty of the world to others”. He planned on doing that and it was even announced at the Triton Arts banquet as what he would be going into. But Kay soon found that he needed a more secure job that can help himself and his family.
Tritons own Environmental teacher Thomas Horsely, who has been to many national parks himself states he is not concerned about the state of national parks.
“I think that for the most part usually they are operating under a limited budget and limited resources, they are working with what they are given. Funding is limited and for the most part they are run very effectively having been to 14 of them. Things are good for them.”
Furthermore when asked if believe more national parks would be made or if current national parks would be abolished he had this to say: “The current National parks are solidified, but national monuments can be disbanded and taken apart. Usually we’d want to add not undo.”
Lastly he had this to say on the government’s plans for the parks and their future: “I don’t think currently that is is a priority, I think the park system runs well as is, but they could always use more resources.”
People like is to visit National Parks and that is one of the things that keeps the National Parks going. Is the fact that they are tourist attractions. They are things that really attract people from countries and places that don’t have many of those things. Things such as geysers, great mountains, and canyons beyond belief they are probably some of the coolest things to see on this earth.
The current president’s budget has cut the EPA’s funding by around $2.5 billion. This is an overall decrease in around 23% of the EPA’s funding. By doing this the entire EPA will not be able to save as much. The goal of the EPA is to protect the outdoors. They do this by trying to “Develop and Enforce Regulations” as is what is said on the EPA website. With the cut to the EPA there is a very large deficit in what can be done to help the outdoors and that will affect National Parks.
Not only did the EPA receive budget cuts but so did the National Parks themselves. They received a 12% cut to their budget. To go back to what Horsely said about them running a very tight operation. Any cut to the budget must be hard for them to deal with. It will make it so they can do less than they already do