It’s disturbing to hear tales of USFS and U.S. Park Service employees being ‘downsized’ by the machinations of an un-elected billionaire acting at the behest of the Trump administration.
Public lands, whether they are municipal, state, or federal are treasured public resources that belong to us. They are sacrosanct and need to be protected from the reckless work currently underway in Washington, DC.
Visit any national park and witness how well-maintained they are, how clean and most importantly, how well-used. They are used not just by the athletes and weekend warriors. They are used by folks young and old, agile, and less so, fast hikers and slow-walkers. There are clean drinking fountains, clean restrooms, accessible parking and more.
Visit any state park and note how amazing it was that states had the foresight over a century ago, to carve out and conserve lands for permanent public access.
Visit a local town forest or public recreation lands in our community. What a wealth we have in terms of access to the outdoors. How fortunate we are.
What all these assets share is that they provide people with access to the outdoors. Not everyone lives in rural communities where (muddy) dirt roads provide a place to wander or tracts of woods allow one to be in nature. Visit a public park (like Central Park in NYC or much smaller parks) and notice that people come and hang out there. They bring towels and chairs and read in the sun. They bring picnics. Their kids and pets play. They are extremely well-used.
They belong to all of us, all who use them, all who pay for them and all who come from afar to visit them. They should be regarded with pride and a fierce desire to protect. Having un-elected billionaire exercising any authority on behalf of an administration that does not value outdoor recreation (other than golf) violates our shared values.
These are riches, as much so or more than any GDP or the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the NASDAC. This is our shared wealth, our historical wealth and very much a part of our national identity.
Hands off our public lands.
