The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths

The National Parks Were Reportedly Told to Stay Silent on Deaths(outsideonline.com)

61 points by LostMyLogin 2 hours ago | 23 comments

slg 1 hour ago |

One thing that I can't get over about this administration is its cartoon villainy. There are all sorts of substantive and important issues in which people can have viable disagreements. Even when I disagree with people on those issues, I can usually at least understand their motivation. But this administration has so many policies like this which both seem completely unimportant to be worthy of focus and yet are also seemingly only motivated to make things worse. I truly can't imagine why anyone would put their energy into enacting a policy like this that is so transparently wrong. And I also don't know why people don't see policies like this as a canary in the coal mine for the administration's other positions.

HoldOnAMinute 23 minutes ago | |

Flooding the zone. They're getting you to waste your time and energy on this, so you don't see what they are really doing.

This is not a situation where good actors have different ideas on how to best administer the country.

These are criminals. They are committing crimes. You are the victim, not their peer.

jasonfarnon 20 minutes ago | |

According to the article Interior is just centralizing the release of the information. That sounds reasonable to me rather than letting any NPS employee discuss it with the press, and is consistent with many other agencies and employers policies (family privacy etc). As far as I can tell the only "cartoon villainy" is based on speculation in the article that the administration has some other motive. The only evidence I can see the article providing is that two deaths last week are not yet listed on the NPS website.

kevin_thibedeau 8 minutes ago | |

There is nobody with competence left running the federal government. They all saw what happened five years ago and kept themselves sidelined when appointments were being handed out. That leaves callow apparatchiks who are busy declaring the emperor is fully clothed as the only ones willing to play act at governance.

ks2048 45 minutes ago | |

All information gathering is bad if you’re willing to lie about anything and prefer to create a propagandized version of reality.

danjl 44 minutes ago | |

The insecurity of this administration is screaming

wahern 34 minutes ago | |

I don't think it's comprehensible at the individual level, but at population scales even the worst leaders tend to maintain a sizeable level of support. Trump and Chavez have alot in common[1], and nearly half of Venezuelans still supported Chavez at the end, when Venezuela had already been wrecked. Even Maduro had double-digit support in the last election (nominally 30% but probably less in reality). Cult of personality is a powerful thing, and can linger even after the personality is gone. I wouldn't expect MAGA to disappear overnight.

[1] Does this sound familiar? https://www.caracaschronicles.com/2003/12/03/the-cornered-na...

KennyBlanken 16 minutes ago | |

Some of it is designed to distract and fill the news cycle so actions or matters likely to be very unpopular if they get lots of publicity are drowned out. Any time the administration does something preposterous, look around to see what's actually going on.

That said, I though it was generally obvious the actions and policies are intended to do as much damage to US strengths as quickly as possible?

Relationships with our allies and the developing world?

Research/development/science/education?

The US Dollar standard?

US foreign policy/influence?

US military power?

All of it has been (and is still being) systematically disassembled. Who would benefit from all that? Answer: Russia, China, and to a lesser extent, India.

Did you notice how much the current president loves dictators (or put more politely "strongmen" leaders") but in particular, the Russian head of state? And at times has fawned all over the head of state of China? He sure does spend a lot of time talking to Putin with next to no other US officials in the room, and any records of the meetings destroyed (illegally, I might add.) I'm not joking when I say it's possible Putin is literally telling Trump how to run the country and he's nodding and saying "wow what a great idea, thank you!"

The republican party is generally awfully cozy with Russian officials because they've apparently decided Russia is the ideal society they want to convert the US into:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/15/republicans-...

They see how powerful Putin is, how powerful the FSB is, how freely Russian society racially discriminates, how powerful the oligarchs and ultrawealthy are, how patriarchal it is, how christian it appears to them - and they love all of it.

s1artibartfast 29 minutes ago |

> Interior shall not confirm the severity of injuries,” the memo reportedly said, according to The Washington Post. “Interior may state only that an individual was transported and the method of transport"

The visitor took a hearse home...

mjamil 2 hours ago |

Non-paywall link [1]

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/national-park-staff-n...

galleywest200 1 hour ago |

> According to The Washington Post, the internal policy states “Interior shall not confirm a death,” and that this policy applies to “all Interior bureaus and offices” plus “all Interior communications involving fatalities, suspected fatalities, serious injuries or emotionally sensitive incidents.”

So now I cannot learn about known bear attacks when I plan a backpacking trip?

jandrewrogers 1 hour ago | |

If you are going into an area with bears, you should be prepared for bears. Appropriate behavior isn't conditional on someone dying recently. The risks in an area are widely published and posted by the National Park Service. This is basic safety.

It is common to see people in National Parks flagrantly ignore the many warnings. Honestly, I am surprised it is only 350 deaths per year.

teachrdan 53 minutes ago | | |

> Honestly, I am surprised it is only 350 deaths per year.

Isn't this exactly why we need to know how many deaths there are -- so we can judge the level of risk we face?

bix6 50 minutes ago | | |

If there is heightened animal activity in an area it helps to know, especially if they are aggressive. We adjust where we go to avoid especially dangerous situations.

jasonfarnon 11 minutes ago | |

Of course you can: https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/mortality-data.htm

petcat 1 hour ago | |

What would you learn?

You should always be prepared to encounter unrestrained nature when backpacking in a national park.

khriss 1 hour ago | | |

It's a bit like saying weather forecasts are useless in Seattle as you should always be prepared for the rain.

tshaddox 1 hour ago | | |

I’m somewhat experienced in wilderness backpacking, and I always look into bear protocol anywhere I visit (including talking to the rangers there in person). But it’s disingenuous to suggest that you’d learn nothing from death statistics. Are you suggesting that there’s no need to know that, because if the numbers were too high in an area they’d close it down?