SAN ANTONIO – As part of the Trump administration’s federal budget cuts, the National Park Service (NPS) is facing significant reductions that could impact San Antonio’s historic missions, including the closure of the law enforcement facility at Mission San Jose.
The facility is home to essential staff who manage the park’s safety, maintenance and preservation.
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) said that 34 NPS leases are scheduled for termination. The affected leases include vital field offices and facilities that house park staff.
Many visitors are grateful for the preservation of the historical sites.
“It’s beautiful, so yes, I definitely would come back,” said Amanda Melendez, a spring break visitor at Mission San Jose.
Raymond Sisk, another visitor, expressed deep appreciation for the missions’ legacy.
“Just really thankful that they’ve been preserved to where we can look at history and walk where people walked 300 years ago,” Sisk said.
However, these preservation efforts are now in question.
In addition to the facility closures, the NPCA has raised concerns that the cuts could leave millions of artifacts vulnerable or lost, and lead to the shutdown of emergency operations.
“I think it should continue to be protected, along with all the other national parks, because they are our national heritage,” Sisk said. “It’s just a privilege to be able to go to these parks.”
Sanya Marin, a park ranger from Mission San Jose, told Texas Public Radio last week that she was let go as part of the federal cuts despite “nothing but positive remarks” in her performance reviews.
“I received an email basically saying that I was terminated because I was a probationary employee,” Marin told TPR. “I started on April 7, 2024, so I was probably six, maybe seven weeks away from meeting that status before I got let go.”
KSAT has reached out to Marin and has not heard back as of Monday night.
NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno said the closures and layoffs are a betrayal of the legacy of the National Park Service, which has been safeguarding these places for more than a century.
“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,” Pierno said in a statement. “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.”
The NPCA warned that these actions will push national parks “past the point of no return.”
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