Grand Junction
The Keep Parks Public team hosted a live taping of The Landscape podcast at Gemini Beer Company to highlight the ongoing threats to Western Colorado’s public lands. In Colorado, staffing and funding cuts by the Trump administration threaten the health and accessibility of national public lands, as well as Grand Junction’s economy, which is driven by outdoor recreation. Congressional proposals to sell-off public lands earlier this summer threatened the very existence of national public land, including popular mountain biking trails like the Lunch Loops.
The Landscape host Kate Groetzinger was joined on the podcast by Cole Hanson, co-owner of Gear Junction and vice chair of the Grand Valley Outdoor Recreation Coalition, Ken Mabery, former superintendent of Colorado National Monument, Jessy Nuckolls, public lands advocate and Western Colorado Alliance member, and Tracy Coppola, the National Parks Conservation Association’s Colorado Senior Program Manager.
“The Trump administration’s attacks on the National Park Service and other land management agencies are stretching staff thin and putting natural and cultural resources in danger. Even if we turn around the treatment of civil service employees today, it will take years to restore the trust in these career paths enough to attract high performers back into public service.”
These attacks on our public lands are likely to get worse, as President Trump’s proposed 2026 budget would cut National Park Service funding by 36 percent, or $1.2 billion, and U.S. Forest Service funding by 35 percent, or $1.6 billion. These cuts would lead to a 30 percent drop in National Park Service staff and a 40 percent drop in Forest Service staff, according to the Center for American Progress.