“President Donald Trump beamed from behind the White House lectern. While delivering a speech at an Earth Day celebration last week — which coincided with National Park Week 2020 — the president said he had good news to share.
“Thanks to our significant progress against the invisible enemy, I’m pleased to announce that in line with my administration’s guidelines for opening up America again, we will begin to reopen our national parks and public lands for the American people to enjoy,” Trump said. “That’s going to be very exciting. We have a lot of land to open up, too.”
Jeff Ruch, Pacific Director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, blamed rank-and-file employees’ confusion surrounding park closures on the department’s current leadership structure.”
