Visitors walk through Muir Woods National Monument in 2025. The park is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County.

National parks are at an inflection point. Staffing reductions, deferred maintenance and shifting federal priorities are creating strain across a system already managing record visitation and aging infrastructure.

The recent federal government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, was a warning across the country and in the Bay Area, where national parks support thousands of jobs and contribute $2 billion annually to the local economy. Parks don’t disappear in dramatic moments. They erode quietly when gaps in care widen and uncertainty grows.

The question now: Will we choose to stand with parks?

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The Golden Gate National Recreation Area offers a model for what sustained commitment can achieve. More people visit it annually than any other national park site, with 19 million visitors in 2024. Iconic park sites like Muir Woods, Alcatraz, the Presidio and Mori Point are woven into the daily life of the Bay Area and serve as places where nature, history and community meet. 

Partnership makes this possible. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area exists in its current form thanks to a long-standing collaboration among the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust and the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, where I am president and CEO. This tri-organization, public-nonprofit model is the reason these public lands can adapt and evolve while staying open and accessible to everyone.

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