The Trump White House plans to cancel 34 leases for National Park Service offices countrywide, including the headquarters building for the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park,
according to a report by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA).
The Missions facility, 2202 Roosevelt Ave., houses offices for park-management functions, including first-response, public safety, maintenance, IT, equipment storage and artifacts. The building is expected to close in coming weeks, reports the NPCA, a century-old nonprofit that works to protect U.S. national parks.
The closure could jeopardize safety and maintenance of Texas' only UNESCO World Heritage Site, NPCA officials warn. San Antonio's Missions collectively received that designation in 2015.
Among the 34 NPS facilities being shuttered nationally, many also harbor research labs used by scientists and archaeologists.
“It is reckless and short-sighted to shutter National Park Service offices without a careful examination of what they protect and the critical staff who work there," NPCA CEO Theresa Pierno said in a statement.
"These closures will cripple the Park Service’s ability to operate parks safely and will mean millions of irreplaceable artifacts will be left vulnerable or worse, lost," Pierno added. "Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick."
News that the White House is canceling National Park Service leases follows the administration's gutting of the parks' workforces, starting with probationary staff.
“Between staff being fired or resigning under duress, the National Park Service has lost 9% of its staff in a matter of weeks," Pierno said. "The park staff that remain are stretched thin. And now, the administration is making their jobs even harder. Canceling these leases and firing more than a thousand staff do nothing to make our Park Service more efficient. These moves by the administration are pushing our parks past the point of no return."
