Parks and Devastation

I was at Glacier National Park...

On the signboard at the station, one side displayed some limited information on open trails and road conditions. The other had (out-of-date) news from the Department of the Interior,...

Here was the department news that Glacier wished to highlight:

First, an article about Secretary Deb Haaland (the first Native American to run the department, which also is in charge of Indian Affairs) announcing a Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative...

Then an article about the Interior Department transferring the National Bison Range Lands to the Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Third, an article celebrating the brand-new federal holiday of Juneteenth...

Fifth, a consultation with Hawaiians to discuss updates to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Sixth, an article celebrating Latino Conservation Week....

It shows a government agency obsessed with every aspect of identify politics at the expense of its core mission. Literally the entire message board was devoted to one form or another of minority activism, whether for Hispanics, African Americans, Hawaiians, Native Americans, LGBT, or the disabled. Any notion that the Department of the Interior had a core mission to serve the entire American people was lost completely...

Until we change the incentives (and ultimately, many of the people who manage things), our parks, like our country, are in for an era of inevitable decline.