Trump steals national parks and recreational land fees for D.C. vanity projects

The most corrupt president and cabinet in U.S. history are now stealing fees from national parks and federal recreational lands and waters to fund Trump’s D.C. vanity projects.  These fees were never intended to be used to turn the White House and Capitol grounds into a Mar-a-Largo billionaires club – especially as federal parks, lands, and waters in Montana and across the nation continue to degrade.

The Washington Post broke the news this week showing where these narcissistic miscreants will spend the funds intended for maintenance of our national parks and federal recreation sites. 

Here’s a partial list: White House – $330 million; East Wing (that no longer exists) “modernization” – $300 million; National Mall fountains – $47 million. White House helicopter landing pad on the South Lawn – $5 million; Fountains in front of White House – $12.9 million; Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (now being litigated as an illegal renovation) – $9.2 million.

As reported: “The restrictions come as the agency has struggled to maintain normal operations after the administration cut its staff by roughly a quarter, or 4,000 people, according to National Parks Conservation Association figures. Last year, a smaller staff meant longer lines, temporary closure of campgrounds, fewer tours and closed bathrooms.”

National parks have a maintenance backlog of some $11.6 billion, including nearly a billion dollars in deferred maintenance and $2.5 billion in strategic maintenance priorities for Yellowstone and $200 million in Glacier.

As reported by the Daily Montanan: “National Park Service sites contribute to 9,293 jobs in Montana, about $408 million in labor income, added $675 million in value to the state’s economy, and contributed about $1.2 billion in economic output.”

Obviously, there are far greater needs for the parks and recreation fees than ballrooms, fountains and statues in front of the White House and they should be going to maintain and improve our widespread and much-loved national assets, not funneled to Trump’s endless vanity projects. 

Moreover, the history behind the fees that were slapped on to access our own parks, rivers, and recreation sites is yet another example of “bait and switch” on the public.  

Those with good memories may recall when the highly-controversial “Fee Demo” law was passed in 1996 as a rider on an appropriation bill.  The measure allowed the Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to charge “new or increased fees at recreation sites to enhance visitor enjoyment and protect our resources.” 

Predictably, widespread abuse soon occurred as the agencies started charging fees for everything, including simply parking on roadsides and wilderness access areas, in their frenzy to generate ever more revenue from the general public.

Organizations such as the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition sprang up to fight the abuses and continue to do so.  The followup law to Fee Demo was the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, passed by Congress in 2004, and again as a rider on an appropriations bill. In 2005 Montana’s legislature passed a resolution saying: “The Montana Legislature demands that H.R. 3283 be repealed by the United States Congress,” joining states, counties, and municipalities across the nation.

The ever-rising fees have never been popular with the public.  Yet now, the guy who slapped his picture on the America the Beautiful national parks passes has decided to steal those fees, saying “I’m building a monument to myself — because no one else will.”  

He’s got that right, but given the importance of those fees to maintaining Montana’s national parks and federal recreational lands, our gutless Congressional delegation should do what they were elected to do — stand up for Montana and Montanans, not kowtow to a delusional despot’s vanity.