Billy Berler, billy.berler@sierraclub.org
JACKSON, WY — According to reports from The Washington Post, Major League Baseball is actively considering building a ballpark inside a national park to host a future game. Three possible sites within Grand Teton National Park were examined, with National Park Service Deputy Director, Frank Lands, reportedly looking at the sites during a visit that coincided with MLB’s.
This comes amid the Trump administration’s broader attacks on public lands for the benefit of corporations and other private entities. The administration has cut nearly a quarter of the National Park Service’s permanent staff and has attempted to strip protections from millions of acres of public lands. It has also proposed cutting park operations by $736 million while creating a $10 billion fund for construction of vanity projects in and around Washington, D.C.
"Americans want to see protections for our national parks and public lands strengthened. Bulldozing these lands for a baseball stadium does the opposite, destroying the magnificent landscapes that millions of people come to experience,” said Chris Kassar, Chapter Director of the Sierra Club in Wyoming. “It is irresponsible and shortsighted. We can’t pretend that a baseball stadium in Grand Teton is in the best interest of Wyomingites."
“National parks are protected so people can experience extraordinary landscape and wildlife while preserving them for future generations,” said Jackie Ostfeld, Director of the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign. “That promise is central to what visitors come to Grand Teton to enjoy. Building a ballpark for one game would completely disrupt the tranquil beauty that national parks were created to preserve. The administration must reject any proposal that puts the corporate interests of a powerful few ahead of protecting the park.”
Just in the past year, the Trump administration has led numerous attacks on national park sites, including a land deal at Yosemite that would make a private development more profitable, lucrative contracts to bulldoze Big Bend for unnecessary border construction, an industrial mining road through Gates of the Arctic, and proposed swapping lands within Cumberland Island to build mansions.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.