FORT PAYNE – The visitor center for the Little River Canyon National Preserve is among nearly three dozen National Park Service facilities likely to be shut down by the Trump administration.
In its drive to eliminate waste and fraud in government, the White House plans to terminate National Park Service leases and shutter 34 offices across the country that function as visitor centers, law enforcement offices, museums and hubs for critical park services.
Among those is the hugely popular Little River Canyon Center in Fort Payne. The center is where the public can obtain permits and receive education about safe and enjoyable
recreation in and around the river.
The National Parks Conservation Association is calling on the administration “to immediately stop these reckless lease cancellations” before they inflict even more damage on America’s national parks.
“Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick,” NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno said.
Field offices and facilities slated for lease termination house vital staff including scientists, archeologists, superintendents, and others who carry out the basic operations and mission of national parks.
“If these facilities are eliminated, eight visitor centers will be shuttered without an alternative location in place and millions of artifacts stored in climate-controlled facilities will have no equivalent facility to be housed,” the NPCA said. “Emergency, search and rescue and law enforcement facilities will also be shut down.”
According to its website, the Little River Canyon Center opened in 2009 and is a Jacksonville State University building that adjoins the Little River Canyon National Preserve.
“With a portion leased to the National Park Service and the staff of the Little River Canyon National Preserve, the facility features a Grand Hall, HD movie theater, gift shop, natural history library, exhibits, classrooms, back deck, outdoor amphitheater and trails for both education and adventure,” the description reads. “It is available to rent for meetings, social gatherings, corporate retreats and other special events.
“The Canyon Center features a regular schedule of programs that include concerts, workshops, hikes, lectures, and other activities for students of all ages. The building itself is educational as it is LEED (Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certified structure that utilizes geothermal heating and cooling, recycled materials, added insulation and many other innovative and sustainable design elements.”
Pierno called the move “reckless and short-sighted.”
“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,” she said. “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.
“Between staff being fired or resigning under duress, the National Park Service has lost 9% of its staff in a matter of weeks. 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.
“For over a century, Americans have loved and fought to protect our national parks. This administration’s actions are a betrayal of that legacy. The American people expect leaders to protect our parks, not dismantle them.”
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