Trump’s War on the Wilderness
Image: Jamie King
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed The Organic Act—enshrining the protection of America’s landscapes in federal law and establishing the National Park Service (NPS). Wilson’s radical environmentalism reframed the US government's approach to the American wilderness, prioritising protection over profit. The NPS now manages more than 85 million acres of land, protecting some of the nation’s most pristine natural landscapes. Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier, Zion, Olympic, and Joshua Tree are just a few of the national parks preserved by the service. Generations of Americans, alongside international tourists, have found immense enjoyment in these protected lands, with the NPS supporting their access through the maintenance of campsites, trails, and the execution of search and rescue operations. I spent almost six months in these parks while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)—a footpath of transcendental beauty—and witnessed first-hand the passion and importance of park rangers. These rangers, the entire NPS, and the American wilderness itself are now existentially threatened by the Trump administration.
Trump’s attack on Wilson’s legacy began with sweeping cuts to the NPS workforce in February 2025, with almost 5% of the service’s staff laid off as a part of his irresponsible effort to cut costs. These mass firings have led to filthy public facilities, a significant build-up of litter, and unmaintained, dangerous trails. An estimated 325 million people visit the parks under the NPS’s care, exerting huge pressure on delicate ecosystems already jeopardised by seasonal wildfires and climate change. Park rangers, many of whom have now been callously fired, work tirelessly to mitigate the impact of human activity on these areas through their enforcement of the backcountry code and continual conservation efforts. Without these dedicated individuals, America’s natural world will fall into a state of degradation.
Yet the administration’s campaign against nature extends even beyond these firings. Individual trail-management organisations have been sounding the alarm bells, warning that the cuts in Federal Support could see the US’ iconic ‘Triple Crown Trails’ cease to exist. The CEOs of the organisations managing the Pacific Crest and Appalachian trails published a particularly insightful, if not heartbreaking article on the potential impact of a funding cut-off. They point out that the trails under their care are already imperiled by the effects of climate change, particularly the increased frequency of fires, floods, and hurricanes. My own thru-hike of the PCT was threatened by the spectre of wildfires, taking me through dozens of ‘burn zones’—the charred, charcoal-black skeletons of forests burned down in previous years. Given Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ ethos, we may soon see America’s backcountry reduced to a scorched landscape of ash and decay.
More recently, Trump has pressured federal agencies to ramp up logging operations in national forests, destroying precious ecologies with the stroke of a pen. This too undermines long-established legislation aimed at protecting ancient woodlands. In the Pacific Northwest, 1500-year-old trees may be under threat from the short-sightedness of a reckless president.
Although this apparent contempt for the American wild has materialised under the guise of spending cuts, it may indicate a darker impulse. Trump represents some of the worst instincts of the American psyche, and his embodiment of capitalist greed may go some way to explain his antipathy towards the wilderness. There are now reports that the 47th President of the United States is attempting to sell off 640 million acres of public land to drilling and mining companies. If true, such a project would reverse the legacy left by Wilson which sought to protect public lands from corporate exploitation.
This administration does seem to have a minimal understanding of the priceless sanctity of America’s parks, with Doug Burgum, Trump’s secretary of the interior, describing them as mere assets ‘on the nation’s balance sheet’. However, while those in the White House may have no regard for the great outdoors, ordinary Americans do. New polling from Data for Progress found that 83% of all likely voters support either maintaining or increasing funding for National Parks and Forests, and even a majority of self-described MAGA Republicans are supportive of the NPS. While the outlook looks bleak, we can see glimmers of hope in such polls. America is an intensely divided country, but an affection for the US’ National Parks is a rare point of political intersection that may spell disaster for an already shaky Trump administration.
John Muir, the so-called ‘patron saint of the American wilderness’, asserted that ‘everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul’. If Trump is foolish enough to strip America of its natural beauty, he may experience both a predictable liberal backlash and an insurgency within his own ranks. In this respect, his decision to wage a war against the wilderness may well be his undoing.