It’s been just over a month since Trump and the new Congress have been sworn into office, yet the attacks on the environment have already come en masse, many of which affect the Colorado River and Glen Canyon. An executive order halted $4 billion dollars of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act that were meant to fund water conservation in the basin as it grapples with diminishing supply. The funding freeze has thrown basin-wide conservation efforts into disarray, raising doubts about strategies to prop up reservoir levels, especially as below-average snowpack foreshadows a low runoff year. 
 

National Park Layoffs:
Additionally, a reported 1,000 National Park Service employees were fired and 700 have resigned, reducing the NPS workforce by 9% — not counting the hundreds of vacant positions that cannot be filled due to a hiring freeze. Under an executive order calling for further federal layoffs, more job cuts could be coming to National Parks. The purge of employees has created chaos at national parks across the country just before the spring break visitation wave. According to a spreadsheet crowdsourced by NPS staff, 12 employees have been let go at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area as of this writing. NPS employees play a vital role in the protection of cultural and ecological resources at our parks, not to mention emergency services, wastewater treatment, and trash collection. This could have acute effects on Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which has already faced immense struggles managing facilities and resources as reservoir levels have dropped.

National Monuments in the Crosshairs:
Efforts are already underway to undermine national monuments. Two monuments in the greater Glen Canyon region that were attacked during the previous Trump administration, Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument are likely to be slashed again. On his first day in office, secretary of interior Doug Burgum issued a secretarial order taking steps to “revise” national monuments with the goal of opening up public land to drilling and mining. Additionally, two companion bills (S.220/H.R.521) introduced by Senator Mike Lee and Congresswoman Celeste Malloy, both of Utah, would repeal executive authority to designate national monuments through the 1906 Antiquities Act, a bedrock law for the protection of public lands. 

A Shaky Future for NEPA:
And finally, the administration is taking steps to gut the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by rescinding decades worth of environmental rules that guide the law’s implementation, with the goal of minimizing review of environmental impacts. In the years to come, this could have massive implications for Colorado River policy, which is being renegotiated through a NEPA process right now under the post-2026 Colorado River EIS. NEPA is one of the primary ways for the public and stakeholders to influence decision making processes that impact the environment and endangered species. 

Take Action:
While the onslaught of attacks on the environment is overwhelming, there are steps we can all take to speak out against these overt threats. It’s critical that congressional representatives hear from you — their constituents — that our National Parks, National Monuments, and laws that preserve the water and land of the Colorado River Basin must be protected.

We have been tracking ongoing threats to the Colorado River Basin, and urge you to take action today. 

Click here to find your representatives and send them a message. We have drafted a template letter, but we urge to you to personalize it. As a constituent, tell your elected officials why you care about upholding strong management and planning for the Colorado River and the surrounding land. 

Take action here!