08/29/2026
if there’s one thing that’s great about the united states, it’s always been the natural landscapes. it’s national parks week and it would be so easy to talk about all my favorite parks i’ve been to (i’ve visited 43 out of the 63 national parks) but that would be a disservice of having the platform that i do.
earlier this year two national monuments (part of the nps system) were reduced at the hands of the current administration.
big bend national park and organ pipe cactus national monument have been bulldozed in the conquest of building unnecessary border walls (endangering the biodiversity that call those places home).
there’s talks of building an “interstate 47” that would run adjacent to grand teton national park and through yellowstone national park… i wish i was joking.
the administration is trying to work a backdoor deal to sell a portion of yosemite to a private capital group to create a private entrance in the park.
the parks are still grossly understaffed and underfunded despite seeing year over year record visitation and providing high levels of economic return.
when protecting the parks isn’t enough, there comes a time when you have to stand up and defend them. we lose the things that make this place great when we stop defending the things we love. be loud, talk about public lands as often as you can. share what you love about them, document them, bring your friends to your favorite places.
america had a good idea, let’s make sure it stays that way.