“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders… for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Boundless green wraps across the curve of a river, strokes of brilliant reds against rock canvases, pink and purple streaked skies as the sun fades behind the mountains. More than 100 years ago, the National Parks Service (NPS) was created by Woodrow Wilson with the intention of preserving Earth’s natural resources “for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations,” according to their mission statement. However, the Trump administration threatens to undermine the NPS by slashing their budget by nearly $400 million, cutting American identity, culture and jobs in the process. National Parks are crucial to our nation’s very core: this land is our land.

Nationally recognized as America’s best idea, the NPS consists of 59 national parks unsurpassed in natural beauty. This vast network of parks has always been open to anyone and everyone, perhaps in itself displaying the epitome of the American Dream. Only about a third of these parks charge admission, making them extremely accessible to the general public. With 331 million visits last year alone, national parks are a crucial part of both America and the American identity. With every step of a park one ventures into, they become more aware of just what surrounds them. Stopping to admire a Redwood or observing a wolf in their natural habitat is something that makes one conscious of the purest form of nature and life itself. National parks offer a sort of therapy unattainable elsewhere. According to Major General Paul D. Eaton, the parks are havens for veterans and service members to “seek out for healing and renewal after coming home from war.” The national parks are treasures that should be preserved and available for generations to come.

While at first glance, cutting budgets does not sound too irreparable, the national parks are in grave danger. In actuality, the proposed budget cuts call for harmful drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and limits support for the National Wildlife Refuge System. According to Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks’ Chair Maureen Finnerty, this is “the worst budget since World War II.” The NPS desperately needs this money for upkeep and conservation, which Trump plans to compensate for by privatizing the parks. By doing this, the cost of visiting the parks will soar, thus undermining America’s best idea altogether. Privatizing lands will make experiencing these national treasures only truly available to the wealthy.

This proposal has an even broader economic impact: removing protections on public lands will dramatically hurt local economies. These cuts will result in a reduction of 1,242 positions alongside 2,000 already unfilled positions, according to the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. The parks rely on these crucial positions to keep the parks running during critical seasons for visitation. National parks helped pull America out of the Great Depression, employing millions of men in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), so cutting out essential positions is harmful.

Trump’s plan also compromises the Antiquities Act, wherein the President obtains the authority to create national monuments to protect the nation’s culture, history and environment. This act aided in preserving some of the many wonders of the United States, such as the Grand Canyon. It is almost impossible to imagine this country without such works of art.

National parks are a fundamental part of America’s rich history that need to be protected at all costs. The proposed budget cuts and privatization of national parks and monuments by Trump is a move that sabotages the very foundation of democracy.