Montezuma Castle National Monument in Camp Verde, Arizona.
Last week, the U.S. General Services Administration announced that it would terminate the leases of more than 400 non-core federally owned properties.
34 of those properties are National Park Service sites, including five in Arizona, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
In Camp Verde, a shared maintenance facility and administrative office for Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot National Monuments are at risk, a central headquarters for Flagstaff area national monuments including Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano and Walnut Canyon National Monuments, the NPS’ Southern Colorado Plateau and Monitoring Network, and NPS Southern Arizona Office which supports all 22 NPS sites in the state.
John Garder, senior director of budget appropriations with the NPCA says these leases include visitor centers, law enforcement offices, central headquarters and other critical hubs.
“There are facilities, including in Arizona, that are critical for doing the scientific work to make sure resources are inventoried, monitored and protected, there’s some really important science for air and water quality,” Garder said.
The Trump Administration’s latest move to sell off federal properties comes shortly after mass firings of federal employees and a return to in-person work mandate.
“There’s also an important question of where people go to report,” said Garder.
He noted that since January 20th, the Park Service has experienced a 9% staffing loss, even though seasonal hiring has been allowed to resume. One thousand employees who were let go and about 700 opted to resign.
“It would be an understatement to say it’s adding insult to injury- it’s adding injury to injury and it’s just one of many actions that have been happening that are tying the Park Service’s hands, making it very difficult for them to do their job, accommodating visitors, getting ready for the busy spring season and protecting those world class resources that people come to see,” Garder noted.
The Park Service recently reported record-setting visitation last year with 331,863,358 visits– up 2% from 2023.
“There are businesses and communities all around the country who are appropriately alarmed about this situation and worried about how the visitor experience is going to be compromised and undermined,” Garder said.
According to the Park Service, there were 10,431,792 visitors to Arizona’s national park sites in 2023, who spent about $1.2 billion in local gateway regions.
“Nationally, $55.6 billion in economic activity that is generated by visitor spending in national parks,” Garder explained.
In Arizona, Saguaro National Park shut down its visitor centers on Mondays as the result of letting go two employees.
“The visitor centers and the park rangers are some of the coolest parts of going to national parks, to be able to have someone there in their flat hat to greet you, to answer your questions, to tell you where a good place to take a hike based on the amount of time you have and your fitness level," Garder said. "People who can tell you about the history of the park or just the history that the park interprets, the interpreted materials you find at visitor centers, the films, the pamphlets, all of the things that really enhance the park visiting experience. When you don’t have staff and when you close the visitor centers, visitors don’t get that.”
The GSA has since removed the listed properties for sale from its website but states, “We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
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