Trump’s disastrous, pointless, and malicious shutdown has hit our treasured public lands hard, and as it continues with no end in sight the situation for National Parks, Forests, and other areas becomes increasingly dire, as well as the implications for those who care for them. To say that this shutdown has been handled poorly is an understatement, and unless it ends soon major changes to shutdown management need to be implemented immediately. The parks must be closed.
The last time the government was shuttered by feuding politicians we had an executive branch that was well organized and which had positive, constructive goals. President Obama’s administration cared about public lands, and when the growing malignant right wing extremism in the Republican Party forced the 2013 shutdown, the executive branch and the agencies that oversee our public lands did everything possible to safeguard our natural and historic treasures during that time of strife. They made the only responsible call possible in such a situation - they ensured that the threat to federal public lands was minimized by closing the gates and baring the doors.
Though it could be argued that the near total closure of federal public lands had its downsides as opposed to keeping them open and unstaffed, those downsides pale in comparison to the greater harm that was averted by the closure. Thanks to Trump and his goons, we now have an example to show us the efficacy of the previous administration's response.
When the most recent shutdown began it didn’t take long for chaos and destruction to wreak havoc in the absence of caretakers. With no one to empty them, trash receptacles overflowed, and litter was strewn everywhere. With bathrooms closed, everywhere became a toilet - imagine how packed Yosemite is on a busy day and you get an idea of how much human waste was accumulating around the parks. People took advantage of the closure to break every rule in the book, including felling Joshua Tree National Park’s namesake trees and carving new roads into the sensitive desert soil.
Even now, nearly a month into the shutdown, the chaos continues - abated only by the valiant efforts of volunteers and the drastically reduced staff that fees can support. It’s not enough, and every day brings the possibility of some new atrocity being committed to places we hold dear.
To be clear, the shutdown should not have happened and should not continue. That it has is an atrocity that highlights the malicious nature of the deplorable individual squatting in the oval office and of the party that has enabled his self serving and destructive actions. It also shines a spotlight on the glaring holes in our system of government that have allowed this situation to occur.
However, so long as we must deal with things as they are, there is only one good way to manage public lands during a government shutdown, and that is to shut them down as well. Whatever short term ill effects this might entail are worth risking in order to prevent the serious long term harm that leaving public lands open and defenseless inevitably entails. It’s long past time we locked the gates so that our parks, refuges, and forests can weather this storm.
______________________________________________________________
Written in one hour for the #NatureWritingChallenge
