Protect Our Public Lands!

As your constituent and an avid outdoor enthusiast, I urge you to fully fund our public lands workforce in the FY26 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill—and to call on federal land management agencies to reinstate the vital personnel who care for our national parks and public lands. Each year, America’s public lands welcome more than 100 million people across nearly half a billion visits. These treasured places are not only central to our national identity—they are also a powerful economic engine, supporting the $1.2 trillion outdoor recreation industry and sustaining thousands of gateway communities across the country. But this system is now under serious threat. The termination of over 1,000 National Park Service employees, thousands from the U.S. Forest Service, and hundreds more across other land management agencies is already having visible consequences: canceled reservations, longer wait times at park entrances, and reduced safety and services for visitors. These cuts also weaken our capacity to respond to wildfires, climate-related disasters, and the growing maintenance backlog. What’s more, the freeze on new hiring ensures that agencies cannot replace these skilled public servants. We risk losing decades of institutional knowledge—knowledge that cannot be easily rebuilt. These workforce losses will have cascading effects, impacting visitor access, ecological health, and local economies for years to come. Over the past decade, the demand on our public lands has grown dramatically. But staffing and infrastructure investments have not kept pace. Despite this, our public lands workforce has continued to serve with dedication and resilience. We owe them—and the millions of Americans who rely on these lands—more than layoffs and budget cuts. I urge you to: • Ensure full and sufficient funding for our public lands workforce in the FY26 spending bill; • Push the administration to lift the hiring freeze and reinstate the thousands of skilled employees who have been or are at risk of being laid off; and • Recognize that investing in our public lands is not just about conservation—it’s about jobs, public health, disaster readiness, and a shared national heritage. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter and for your leadership in protecting America’s public lands and the people who care for them.