With the recent wrongful termination of thousands of National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service employees, Western North Carolina’s public lands were just dealt a massive blow. These layoffs come at a time where we desperately need more funding for public land management agencies to account for Helene damage, increased outdoor recreation and ecological threats.
Predictably, these layoffs will likely lead to local trail closures and reduced tourism, as the agencies’ limited staff (who were already stretched thin) will not be able to repair and maintain these areas. Local wildlife species are also at risk.
But the most concerning development here can be traced back to an executive order from January.
On Jan. 20, the president issued an executive order declaring a “National Energy Emergency,” despite the fact that U.S. energy production exceeds consumption by the widest-recorded margin since 1949. The order states that agency and executive department heads may use “any lawful emergency authorities available to them” to “facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining and generation of domestic energy resources … on federal lands.”
In other words, national parks and forests will be targeted for increased oil drilling and mining (the order notably omits solar, wind and other renewables as permissible energy types).
When looked at independently, the layoffs are concerning and disheartening enough. When viewed in tandem with January’s executive order, they paint a terrifying picture of an administration that appears to be gutting federal land management agencies in preparation of an unprecedented land grab for the sake of additional fossil fuel development.
While political polarization may have soared to extreme levels over recent years, I hope most of us here in WNC can agree that we want to protect — not develop — our forests.
— Rob M. Campbell
Asheville
hummm, actually no national parks will be opened up to mining and drilling ….national monuments either other than the ones Trump is illegally “decommissioning” ( ..so that yes, they can be mined and drilled). As for our national forests here in WNC -the Pisgah and Nantahala forests- Trump recently signed an executive order that also included a directive for exponentially increased lumber quotas in order to open up large “swaths’ of them to be cut to make up for the loss of Canadian lumber that he is targeting with his tariffs. That’s really the overriding issue here in western NC in regard to our two national forests. Well, that and the fuel pellet plants that will be now coming to fuel “green” electrical generating plants in Europe. sigh.
Maybe you should read the actual executive order that calls for targeting public lands for energy production before you boldly claim that “no national parks will be opened to mining or drilling.” If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the second Trump administration so far, it’s that we don’t know what to expect.
Kind of a condescending and rude response toward the original writer, especially considering it seems like you’re on the same page about this issue but just differ in how you think this will play out.
hummm, well, it’s going to play out very badly, period …particularly for our national forests ( which has absolutely zero to do with the letting go of forest/ park rangers and maintenance staff ..and why I’m definitely not on the same page as the original writer). The travesty here is all about the the amped up mining and drilling on our public lands ( including the newly “decommissioned” national monuments), and the logging of the remaining old growth forest in our national forests. Clear enough now?
So you agree that the Trump administration is trying to drill and mine on public lands + log old growth but are being rude because the drilling and mining will be at national monument sites and not parks/forests? The only “clear” thing is that you’re being needlessly pedantic and rude over nothing. Maybe redirect that anger toward the people who are trying to destroy our public lands instead of other people who are trying to raise awareness about it? Just a thought. Clear enough now?
100%. Trump has made it abundantly clear that he’ll happily sell our public lands to the highest bidder. This is the same guy who told a room full of oil execs that he’d do whatever they wanted if they donated enough money to this campaign