ICYMI: ENR Ranking Member Heinrich Blasts Trump Administration’s Plan to Transfer National Parks to States, Devastating Rural Economies, Cutting Access to Public Lands, & Killing Jobs

Heinrich: “Today we’re here to say: Not one acre and not on our watch.” 

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Climate Power’s Executive Director Lori Lodes held a press call on Climate Power’s new report, which details the catastrophic economic and budgetary impacts of the Trump Administration’s plan to transfer national park units to state control.

The report, "The High Cost of a Park Giveaway: Trump's Plan to Offload National Parks,” highlights how this radical proposal would devastate local economies, overwhelm state budgets, and dismantle the systems that keep public lands running. According to Climate Power’s New Mexico report,New Mexico stands to lose at least $177 million in economic output with the Trump Administration’s plan to transfer national park units to states.

“By transferring ‘sort of small-p parks’ to the states, the Trump Administration and its supporters aren’t giving states more power or saving taxpayer money,” said Heinrich, blasting the Trump Administration for plans to offload national park units to states. “They’ll be cutting off your access to public lands and devastating state economies in the process, overwhelming state budgets and dismantling the systems that keep public lands running.”

Heinrich continued, “We’re here today to continue to fight, and to let you know that President Trump and Mike Lee’s latest plan of reallocating national park units to state control will not help our states. It will hurt them. It will not increase your access to national parks. It will restrict it. And it proves once again that Donald Trump and his cronies are willing to take away access to national park sites, devastate local economies, threaten your families’ safety, and kill public service jobs, all to enrich their billionaire friends. Two weeks ago, we came together, across the political spectrum, to stop the sale of our public lands. And we’re here to say: Not one acre and not on our watch.”

A video of the press call is here. 

A transcript of his remarks as delivered is below.

Thank you for that introduction and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks to all of you for being here today to continue the fight to save our public lands. 

Two weeks ago, we had a huge win when Senator Mike Lee was forced to remove public lands sales from the Big, Bad Bill.

And while an incredibly wide coalition of folks across the aisle came together to make sure the land sales were not included in the reconciliation bill, we know that this fight is far, far from over.

The Trump Administration has made it clear that it’s determined to sell off our public lands, lands that are your birthright as an American, all to fund tax cuts for their billionaire friends and donors.

So now, the Trump Administration is working to defund the National Parks Service — and shrink the national park system by about 75 percent. 

The Administration says it’s proposing to keep the "crown jewels.” But the public lands the Administration considers less important are incredibly important to the economic health of rural communities and to protecting our shared heritage.

By transferring “sort of small-p parks” to the states, the Trump Administration and its supporters aren’t giving states more power or saving taxpayer money. 

They’ll be cutting off your access to public lands – and devastating state economies in the process, overwhelming state budgets, and dismantling the systems that keep public lands running. 

We know that national park system units are powerful economic drivers of our local and state economies. 

In New Mexico, for example, people visited national park sites 2.3 million times in 2023 alone.

Visitors spent almost $150 million that year, driving economic activity that supported over 1,800 New Mexican jobs and provided $55 million in labor income for our state. 

And these numbers were made possible by an adequately staffed National Parks Service that could properly maintain our parks, keeping lands safe, people safe, and lands accessible. 

But when national park units are transferred to states, all of that is put at risk.

States have smaller budgets, so entrance fees would have to be higher.

When fees are higher, visitor numbers go down and people don’t visit those places that aren’t theirs.

When visitorship declines, fee revenue actually declines, and funding for park maintenance as a result declines.

Poorly maintained parks can’t handle as many visitors, and the cycle continues.

Small businesses would lose customers, and profit losses would mean less rural jobs.

Now, you might ask: “Why can’t the states maintain the parks?”

And the truth is, it’s expensive for states to maintain the national park system. That’s why we have a national park system.

For the federal government, the National Park Service represents less than one-fifteenth of one percent of the total budget.

Meanwhile, the $230 million backlog in national park maintenance in my state alone would represent over 2 percent of our state budget – and that doesn’t count the additional costs that my state would have to incur to fully run the sites ourselves.

And this isn’t just a New Mexico problem – it will be everywhere, as you’ll hear from Climate Power in a few minutes.

So we’re here today to continue to fight, and to let you know that President Trump and Mike Lee’s latest plan of reallocating national park units to state control will not help our states.

It will hurt them.

It will not increase your access to national parks.

It will restrict it.

And it proves once again that Donald Trump and his cronies are willing to take away access to national park sites, devastate local economies, threaten your families’ safety, and kill public service jobs, all to enrich their billionaire friends.

Two weeks ago, we came together, across the political spectrum, to stop the sale of our public lands.

And today we’re here to say: Not one acre and not on our watch.

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