The ‘Biggest Tragedy’ of Trump’s Gutting of the National Park Service

The ‘Biggest Tragedy’ of Trump’s Gutting of the National Park Service

PENDLETON, Ore.—With the second coming of Donald J. Trump, the first Native American director of the National Park Service packed up his belongings in Washington, D.C., and retreated here to the sagebrush outback of eastern Oregon. Charles F. Sams III, whose Native name is Mocking Bird with Big Heart and who spent three and a […]

Chuck Sams on ‘biggest tragedy’ of Trump’s gutting of National Park Service

The former park service director says cuts to agency staff threaten to break emotional bonds Americans have with public land Speaking up: Former National Park Service Director Charles F. Sams III is Cayuse and Walla Walla and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Photo: Getty Images By Blaine Harden/Inside Climate News. January 27, 2026. With the second coming of Donald J. Trump, the first Native Ameri…