Graduation Year
2026
Date of Submission
4-2027
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Second Department
Economics
Reader 1
Andrew Sinclair
Reader 2
Eric Helland
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
This thesis examines the 2025 policy changes affecting the National Park Service (NPS) and their implications for the agency’s mission and advocacy coalition. Historically a bipartisan and widely trusted agency, the NPS has evolved from a conservation-focused mandate into a complex institution balancing environmental protection, recreation, scientific research, and cultural interpretation. Recent policy actions represent not only operational disruption but an unprecedented politicization of the Park Service, reflecting a shift toward centralized executive control. These changes have constrained the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission and placed it within broader ideological conflicts over land use, historical interpretation, and federal authority. Using the Advocacy Coalition Framework, this thesis analyzes the interaction between the Park Coalition and the New Right Coalition, as I term them, in initiating these policy changes and resisting them. Drawing on interviews and policy analysis, I find that while staffing and educational changes are significant, land-use decisions — particularly those enabling development — pose the most lasting and difficult-to-reverse effects on the national park system.
Recommended Citation
Supnick, Rachel, "Parks Under Pressure: Policy Threats and Advocacy Coalition Resistance in 2025" (2026). CMC Senior Theses. 4109.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/4109
Included in
American Politics Commons, Energy Policy Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Land Use Law Commons, Law and Politics Commons, Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law Commons, Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons, Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons, Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration Commons
