For more than 100 years, professional management of our national parks has been respected under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Yes, they have different priorities. But the career public servants of the National Park Service (NPS), charged with stewarding America's most important places, such as the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and the Statue of Liberty, were left to do their jobs. Even in the dark days of interior secretaries James Watt and Gail Norton, both former attorneys with the anti-environmental Mountain States Legal Foundation, the National Park Service (NPS) was generally left untouched. This time is different. The change began within 24 hours of the inauguration when Donald Trump complained that the NPS was reporting smaller crowds on the National Mall than Obama had drawn. Soon the interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, attempted to double the entrance fees, rescinded climate policies and moved) seasoned senior national park superintendents around to force their retirements. After Zinke's abrupt resignation, secretary David Bernhardt populated too much of the department's political leadership with unconfirmed, anti-public land sycophants, and announced a reorganization to install his own lieutenants to oversee super regions. Senior career park managers are likely to be replaced with unqualified political hacks. These are not random actions. This is a systematic dismantling of a beloved institution, like pulling blocks from a Jenga tower, until it collapses.