John Plonski was a finalist for the 2023 Theodore Roosevelt Genius Prize for the Promotion of Conservation. He is a former executive of Pennsylvania’s state park and forest systems. While a student at Franklin Pierce University, he served as an assistant to the superintendents at two New Hampshire state parks.

President Trump has ceded control of America’s prized national parks, forests and wildlife refuges. His beneficiary is Elon Musk, a man of much financial wealth but no understanding of how to lead the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the sprawling public agencies tasked with natural lands management.

Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has attacked the budgets of the three agencies by cutting expenses mainly through employee terminations. This DOGE group has already eliminated more than 1,000 park service positions nationwide. Reductions in personnel and programs were also enacted at the Forest Service, including layoffs of 2,000 career staff. On Valentine’s Day, 420 workers at Fish and Wildlife received e-mails firing them.

These injudicious dismissals of employees will lead to curtailed visitor services and closed facilities. Thousands of vacationing families this summer and students on class outings this spring will be shut out from meaningful American experiences.

Critical repairs to crumbling roads, decaying bridges, and leaking water and sewer lines in parks, forests, and refuges will be postponed or canceled with fewer engineers and construction workers to take care of them.

If park rangers and forest firefighters are cut from the ranks, the public’s safety will be at risk. One major fire in a national park or forest can cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, this sort of precautionary investment was apparently not considered by DOGE.

The biggest mistake that Musk and DOGE make, though, is that they are not accounting for the revenue side of the ledger. Their uninformed budget slashing has been exacted without performing a full cost-benefit analysis. DOGE fails to understand the enormous impact on the American economy produced by these public agencies.

There are 433 parklands, monuments, historic sites, recreation areas and scenic trails comprising the national park system. These sites attracted over 325 million guests last year. Visitors spent $26.4 billion in towns and cities near national parks. According to an August 2024 report, this spending supported 415,400 jobs, almost all in the private sector. Restaurants, lodgings, shops and convenience stores are some of the businesses that have benefited from their location within a park’s gateway community.

Nearly 160 million more people visit national forests annually, contributing over $13.6 billion toward America’s Gross Domestic Product.

The Fish and Wildlife Service’s 570 refuges also contribute mightily to regional and state economies. According to a recent report, 54 million guests invested $3.2 billion toward local businesses.

Before any more heedless reductions are dictated, Elon Musk and his squad should break out of DOGE bunkers to embark on fact-finding expeditions to some parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. I suggest they start in New Hampshire. In one spring weekend, they can experience the awesome beauty of the Granite State’s national lands.

First up, Musk can put on his hiking boots and experience the rugged, pristine beauty of the iconic Appalachian Trail that covers over 161 miles in New Hampshire, almost all of it in the White Mountain National Forest. About 3.4 million will hike, hunt, ski or camp in the forest this year. These outdoor lovers will spend over $420 million in the state.

Musk can then venture 60 miles southwest to the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park. The park preserves the home and studio of renowned sculptor and teacher, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He can learn the inspiring story of a fellow immigrant to this country, one who dedicated his life’s work building up our nation’s history and culture. Visitors here in 2023 accounted for $2.2 million in economic output.

The final leg of the DOGE educational tour could be the Great Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Known as a great spot for photographers, the refuge also provides boaters, birders and hikers with lots of recreational fun. Guests at Great Bay invest about $325 million in the local economy annually.

The proof is in the balance sheet: National parks, forests and wildlife refuges produce an indisputable positive asset for American society. Elon Musk and DOGE have so far ignored this compelling evidence. Hopefully, after visiting some of New Hampshire’s magnificent natural treasures, they will finally understand that taking a figurative chainsaw to public lands and the dedicated people who care for them is just wrong.

In the meantime, citizens can contact their elected representatives in Congress now and demand they slam the brakes on DOGE’s egregious actions.