Campgrounds, visitor centers at federal lakes are closing amid Trump's budget cuts
Source: ABC News/AP
April 27, 2025, 12:03 AM
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Campgrounds, boat ramps and other facilities in at least 30 locations at federal lakes and reservoirs in six states will be closed or have their hours curtailed as of mid-May as the Trump administration tries to rapidly shrink the U.S. government. Officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the lakes and reservoirs and their amenities for boating, camping, hiking and sightseeing, said they are dealing with staffing shortages and other budgetary restrictions.
Corps spokesman Douglas Garman said concentrating staff at fewer recreational sites will allow those sites to keep the full range of services that visitors expect. The Corps' district office in Omaha, Nebraska, which oversees facilities across a large swath of the Great Plains from western Iowa and Nebraska to Montana's border with Canada, said the changes also will protect hydropower and dam operations.
"Decisions to make operational changes at recreation areas are not made lightly, and we understand those decisions can be disruptive to the publics travel plans," Garman said in an email to The Associated Press. President Donald Trump imposed a federal hiring freeze after beginning his second term in January, and his Department of Government Efficiency is trying to eliminate tens of thousands of government jobs.
In Pickstown, South Dakota, residents were appalled to learn the Corps plans to close its visitor center at the Fort Randall Dam and suspend tours of the dam's powerhouse on May 1, said Cindy Broyhill, the president of the towns Board of Trustees.
We have a lot of fishing and boating, but we also have a lot of just plain tourists coming through to see the dam," Broyhill said of Pickstown, located a little more than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) east of the dam on the Missouri River, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) north of the Nebraska state line. I think there are other places where they could cut that would make more sense," she added.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/campgrounds-visitor-centers-federal-lakes-closing-amid-trumps-121207745
From the OP excerpt -
(snip)
We have a lot of fishing and boating, but we also have a lot of just plain tourists coming through to see the dam,"
(snip)
I think there are other places where they could cut that would make more sense," she added.
Pickstown, SD is in Charles Mix County. And what did they do come 2024 election time?


Kudos for the Harris/Walz voters in that apparently bloody red county (which is about 32% indigenous).

displacedvermoter
(3,701 posts)like someplace that serves Black people or gays or woke people. Just not here where 71 percent voted for our Leader.
I loathe these people.
3Hotdogs
(14,126 posts)or some other place. Why our place?
Beartracks
(13,862 posts)... running boat docks and recreational areas becomes a "nice to have" thing that is first on the chopping block when the Trump administration cuts budgets and staff.
I would hope that the Corps makes it known that Trump's cuts are the reason these facilities are being closed. Put it on signs right there on the locked gates and doors.
To those people who think there must be "other places where they could cut that would make more sense" -- you've been misinformed that bloat runs rampant at every government agency and institution, sucking their budgets dry with DEI programs and gender education. In your eyes there's simply lots and lots of low-hanging fruit that can be hacked out of every government office in a way that won't affect YOUR life in any way. However, that is simply not the case. This is what you voted for. And if you think it isn't, then you weren't paying much attention during the campaign.
==================
Wingus Dingus
(8,952 posts)being eroded or outright taken away by that evil piece of shit.
Onthefly
(841 posts)Hope22
(3,929 posts)Check into the devastation Americans caused on parks like Yosemite during Covid. Mountains of trash and literal shit to be cleaned up when the park reopened. If people werent animals and packed their crap out we would have zero problems and 100% use of the spaces but we know that so many of us are simply dirty, greedy humans!
Wingus Dingus
(8,952 posts)JHB
(37,645 posts)A DOGE guy is running it all now because Burgum is too lazy to do his job, not that he would be any better but the new guy didn't even have to go through any confirmation hearings. I'm not sure if he has direct ties to Project 2025 but he's an oil executive. This guy does a good, non-biased (almost too non-biased) job covering park and outdoor recreation news and made a video about that a few days ago.
Norrrm
(1,367 posts)during COVID but took his family there as a private beach.
BumRushDaShow
(151,663 posts)Meme of the century on DU (along with Bernie Sanders' mittens)!
galapagos
(10 posts)When my daughter had to use a public bathroom, she said there was no toilet paper and the sinks did not have running water. In all the years we have been going to that park, we have never encountered that issue before.
Hope22
(3,929 posts)JHB
(37,645 posts)I was thinking Gatlinburg!
OverBurn
(1,201 posts)erronis
(19,332 posts)This country is wonderful but the magats/republicons/tea-partiers/xians are trying to ruin it.
CountAllVotes
(21,721 posts)Welcome!
Tadpole Raisin
(1,789 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,585 posts)Blues Heron
(6,844 posts)the schadenfreude is big with this one....
tanyev
(46,226 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,585 posts)tanyev
(46,226 posts)
Firestorm49
(4,364 posts)And that, as we all know, is the rub. As a former business owner, if I felt the need to improve an underperforming service or program, I would generally have a plan B in mind first. These guys are gutting just for the thrill of it. Cutting expenses, my butt. Mindless shock positioning at the very best. Theyre totally incompetent to do much of anything at all, as is illustrated by the constant reversing of their stated goal. It appears to be an ass kissers paradise. Kiss his ass and you get what you want, or in Trumpian, loyalty.
Irish_Dem
(69,082 posts)The goal is to destroy American culture, history, society.
And sell off public lands to the highest bidder.
Iamscrewed
(190 posts)How long will it take for people who voted for the oRange menace to figure it out.
CountAllVotes
(21,721 posts)Same old story!
Welcome to the DU Iamscrewed !!
red dog 1
(30,805 posts)(Is he dead yet?)
mn9driver
(4,714 posts)to eat THEIR face. FAFO
modrepub
(3,829 posts)(dumb asses)