From its first days, the Trump Administration has threatened a number of drastic cuts to national parks and public lands more broadly. They have slashed staffing, attempted the largest ever reduction in the park service budget, and tried to sell off millions of acres of public lands – all while forcing the parks to remain open, ignoring the realities of safe management.
At this crucial moment, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks has drawn media attention and highlighted the critical need to protect our parks and public lands. Even amidst the flood of different issues, we have successfully generated widespread attention for our parks as a bipartisan priority – helping to fend off further damage such as the threatened “deep and blunt” reduction in force (RIF) cuts. Since January, the Coalition has been included in hundreds of media stories across national, environmental and local outlets.
As media interest has grown, the Coalition has engendered coverage through press releases, op-eds, and joining with partners, and received a number of incoming requests from journalists looking for experts. The Coalition has established itself as a key source by responding quickly to actions from the Administration and Congressional proposals, as well as providing expert insight into what’s already happening in parks – and what is yet to come.
Some coverage highlights include:
- Detailing the impact of staffing cuts in the park service, including coverage in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Rolling Stone, Vox, Business Insider, the Los Angeles Times, and Politico
- Responses to proposed reduction in force (RIF) cuts and the subsequent lawsuit to block them, including coverage in the AP, and AP again, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Hill, the Los Angeles Times, and Newsmax
- Highlighting the cost of the largest budget cuts in history, including coverage in the San Francisco Gate and the Independent
- Letter from almost every living National Parks Director calling the Administration’s actions unlawful, including coverage in E&E News, and National Parks Traveler, and interest from Bloomberg and NPR
- Outreach in California ahead of summer crowds, including coverage in KQED, Yahoo News, San Francisco Chronicle, and Spectrum News, and interest from Fox News.
In addition to direct mentions and quotes, we have helped to shape stories from major outlets like NBC News, Reuters, NPR, PBS, the Economist, and many others.