The Trump administration plans to shutter two National Park Service offices in Flagstaff later this year. It is part of cost-cutting initiatives that have targeted 2 million square feet of federal office space throughout the country.
Under the plan, the combined headquarters for Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano and Walnut Canyon national monuments will close at the end of August. The east Flagstaff building, which is separate from the monuments themselves, provides administrative support and office space for law enforcement and public safety employees, among other services.
"GSA is reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization," said a General Services Administration spokesperson in an emailed statement. "A component of our space consolidation plan will be the termination of many soft term leases. To the extent these terminations affect public facing facilities and/or existing tenants, we are working with our agency partners to secure suitable alternative space. In many cases this will allow us to increase space utilization and obtain improved terms.
The Trump administration has also slated for closure the offices for the Southern Colorado Plateau Inventory and Monitoring Network, which tracks the health of plants, animals, water and ecosystems in national parks.
The so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s website listed the combined value of the leases for both properties at just over $400,000 but didn’t provide additional details or documentation.
The U.S. Department of the Interior didn’t comment directly on the Flagstaff closures, but said it’s working to provide alternate facilities for workers.
“The Department of the Interior and its bureaus are committed to upholding federal responsibilities to communities and tribes,” said a department spokesperson in an emailed statement. “We are working with GSA to ensure facilities or alternative options will be available for the continued delivery of Interior services as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”
In addition, the Park Service plans to close the administrative headquarters for Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot national monuments, which is located on Main Street in Camp Verde and is separate from the actual monuments. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs will shutter a law enforcement office in Fredonia and an airport terminal building in Show Low.
“It is reckless and short-sighted to shutter National Park Service offices without a careful examination of what they protect and the critical staff who work there,” said Theresa Pierno, president and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association. “These closures will cripple the Park Service’s ability to operate parks safely and will mean millions of irreplaceable artifacts will be left vulnerable or worse, lost. Quite simply and astonishingly, this is dismantling the National Park Service as we know it, ranger by ranger and brick by brick.”
According to the DOGE website, the administration plans to close 24 federal offices in Arizona. They include locations in Phoenix for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Forest Service; the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Yuma; the Food and Drug Administration in Tempe; the Internal Revenue Service in Phoenix, Mesa and Glendale; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Tucson, among others.
The federal government will also shutter the Indian Health Service office in St. Michaels on the Navajo Nation.
In all, the administration plans to close 164 Interior Department offices including 34 National Park Service facilities across the country.
