'Biggest nightmare': National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: SF Gate

NATIONAL PARKS
'Biggest nightmare': National Park Service quietly kills program after 15 years

A program that diversified the National Park Service was canceled indefinitely


National Park Service employees, based out of Sumter County, stand in formation as the motorcade of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter stops in front of the Boyhood Farm, where President Carter grew up, on Jan. 4, 2025, in Plains, Ga.
Getty Images

By Kylie Mohr,
Big Sky Country Contributing Parks Editor
May 6, 2025

A longstanding program connecting young adults from diverse backgrounds with summer jobs in the National Park Service was canceled indefinitely earlier this spring.

The National Park Service Academy was a partnership between the National Park Service and the American Conservation Experience, a nonprofit organization providing environmental service opportunities for young adults and “emerging professionals.” This summer would’ve been the program’s 15th year, according to a job posting for the now-defunct cohort.
“Are you passionate about working outdoors but don’t know where to start?” the job posting reads. “Do you come from a marginalized background?”

According to a comparison of the park service workforce to the U.S. population, Hispanic, Black, Asian and multiracial people are underrepresented in the agency. Nearly 80% of the park’s superintendents are white, and more than 84% of the rangers are white, according to data obtained by E&E News in 2020.

Former National Park Service Academy member manager Deja Charles-Tomkins said the park service canceled the program in February for a variety of reasons. Trump’s executive orders targeting programs with diversity, equity or inclusion placed the academy in the crosshairs. Charles-Tomkins heard that any programs or positions that had those three words in their descriptions would be flagged, and any attempts to change wording would result in firings.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/national-park-academy-canceled-20307206.php

[AZJonnie]

1. This is such freaking bullshit

When I try to describe how much I despise Clowny McDollhands and his fascist DOGE goons, words simply fail.

[live love laugh]

3. "Clowny McDollhands"

[Irish_Dem]

2. Anything good and worthwhile must be destroyed.

To make way for the ruthless white male minority ruling class.

[DFW]

4. The Soviet States of America

Soviet citizens had a field day making jokes about how everything their elitist government declared was "for the people" of their glorious socialist paradise. In reality, things there never really got better, and usually worse, and the place finally fell apart from within.

So, too, using his Soviet role model yet again, the Trumpanzee government thinks up one little detail after another t4o make our country less great than it was. Our National Park Service already is operating on a budget far too small to be as effective as it should be. And to think that one of the our National Parks' greatest promoters was the last great Republican President!

From the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic site:

Theodore Roosevelt, often called "the conservation president," impacted the National Park System well beyond his term in office. He doubled the number of sites within the National Park system. As President from 1901 to 1909, he signed legislation establishing five new national parks: Crater Lake, Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Sullys Hill, North Dakota (later re-designated a game preserve); Mesa Verde, Colorado; and Platt, Oklahoma (now part of Chickasaw National Recreation Area). However another Roosevelt enactment had a broader effect: the Antiquities Act of June 8, 1906. The Antiquities Act enabled President Roosevelt and succeeding Presidents to proclaim historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments.

[mopinko]

5. screwing w the next gen is about as stupid and evil as it gets, imho.

that’s my yardstick, always. mothers & babies, school kids, and young ppl getting started in life.
get that rt, and no matter how much u f up the rest, we will survive. just dont f up the rest, and we will thrive.
they kill americorp, i’m sure they-‘ll f up the peace corps, and now this. these kids work for peanuts. and the ppl who run these programs get paid peanuts, too, compared to what they cd get in private industry.

well, they r well on their way to their goal of burning it all down.

ftr- i support a yr of community service to hs grads. these program change lives. americorp saved my son, a kid of privilege who struggled anyway. the kids he served w were mostly not so lucky, but the program boosted them even more.
i had high hopes for a new civilian conservation corps that was talked about under biden.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. one would think that RFK Jr would think it's good for urban kids to get out into nature

or does he just want slave labor in the fields?

[travelingthrulife]

7. Why is everyone just doing what this moron dictates?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Because this moron appointed their leadership, ...

... while in the thrall of the authors of Project 2025.

[karin_sj]

9. Sickening

This regime is spreading its hatred towards all non-white races and stripping all opportunities for anyone that isn't white. They are systematically going through every single department of the government. It's beyond disgusting and so obvious.

[maxsolomon]

10. There are Caucasoids that could use this program, too.

Not just the undeserving browns ( ). All you need is a "marginalized background".

Poor Appalachian kids, like, say, Vice President JD Vance, would have been able to use it.

[sakabatou]

11. It's going to be hell to restart after Dump has trashed everything

[riversedge]

12. SO many good things coming to an end because of Trump and #Republicans. so so many!!