U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie, middle right, talks to members of Mammoth Cave National Park and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, middle left. Photo provided.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
United States Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum toured Mammoth Cave National Park with U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie “to celebrate National Park Week and to discuss the importance of preserving our public lands for Americans to enjoy.”
“As we continue to celebrate National Park Week, I visited Mammoth Cave National Park, home to the longest known cave system in the world, with Congressman Guthrie,” Burgum said. “We toured the expansive cave system, met with park staff, and highlighted Interior’s ongoing commitment to ensuring our parks remain open and accessible to the public.”
During the visit Burgum and Guthrie were briefed by members of the National Park Service, according to a press release from Guthrie’s office.
This visit comes after more than 1,000 National Park Service employees were fired by the Trump Administration, making the service “struggling to find workers to perform critical functions for visitors and maintenance,” according to outside reporting. On April 3, Burgum released a two-page order “ensuring National Parks are open and accessible.”
“To ensure visitor access and satisfaction, any closures or reductions to operating hours, seasons, or any visitor services (including trails and campgrounds), in whole or in part, must be reviewed by the NPS Director and the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks prior to any reduction action by the individual park units,” the order stated. “The Department shall take action to ensure that NPS is properly staffed to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit.”
The order details a report be compiled for each of the 496 “park units” including their “operating hours, seasons, closures or reductions of visitor services (including trails and campgrounds), and staffing,” which then will be assessed by the department.
Glasgow News 1 attempted to contact the Secretary’s office but, at the time of this publication, has not heard back.
At the April 23 Congressional App Challenge recognitions Guthrie echoed the order’s sentiments saying the Superintendent Barclay Trimble made “a great case” about the park’s needs.
“I thought the superintendent made a great case about the personnel he needs,” Guthrie said. “There were cuts at Mammoth Cave and we need to make sure that we can still staff those…there were some questions: Did they go too far with some of those parks? And I think that’s why Secretary Burgum was there…to listen.”
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