When someone dies in a national park, Details are usually revealed by park officials within a few days of the incident. This is not just because deaths and serious injuries on federal lands are a matter of public concern. This is also because deaths are often preventable, and officials want to ensure that information is widely disseminated to educate the public and prevent future tragedies.
GearJunkie writers are familiar with that status quo, as we’ve been reporting on accidents and mishaps within national parks for many years.
But policies regarding how the National Park Service (NPS) shares information with the public appear to be changing. Since President Trump took office last year, questions about national parks are almost always asked through the Department of the Interior, which manages the NPS. And now, the Interior Department wants to change how deaths and serious injuries in national parks are reported to the public.
The Interior Department’s new guidance prohibits park employees or department employees from directly informing the public about details of deaths or serious injuries that occur in national parks. Washington Post Reported on Wednesday. Post Received a December memo from the Interior Department outlining the new policy.
Interior Press Secretary Aubrey Spady explained, “The guidance was developed to create a more consistent approach to incident communication across the department and is not intended to hide deaths or delay information.” Washington Post.
GearJunkie contacted the Interior Department on Thursday for independent verification of this story, but did not receive a response at the time of writing.
No details on recent park deaths
Recent reports of deaths in national parks seem to highlight that something is changing in how the NPS reports these tragedies.
On the one hand, the NPS is still reporting on some deaths in national parks official website. This includes four deaths that occurred in June: three heat-related deaths in Grand Canyon National Park and an NPS employee who died after falling into a crevasse on Denali.
But four other people have reportedly died in national parks within the past week — and neither the NPS nor the Interior Department have issued a statement about any of them.
- June 19 in Sequoia National Park: A 17-year-old girl drowned in Sequoia while out on a hike with family and friends. The Tulare County Coroner’s Office confirmed the death, sfgate Informed.
- June 20 in Yosemite National Park: A 22-year-old man has died after being swept away by a torrent of water from a 600-foot-high waterfall in Yosemite. The Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the death and provided details of what happened. sfgate Informed.
according to Washington Post Story, Two other incidents occurred in national parks this past weekend: A motorcyclist died in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and a body was found in the desert of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
As other publications followed Washington PostIn initial reporting, Interior Department spokesmen disputed that anything substantive had actually changed. According to a statement from the Interior Department, “the story being presented is false and reflects a significant misrepresentation of the new guidance”. forbes.
Interior Press Secretary Spady said, “We continue to provide public safety information, statements, news releases and incident updates as appropriate, while respecting investigative processes, privacy considerations, notifications of next of kin and, in some cases, requests from family members not to release identifying information.”
However, former park superintendents have defended past practices of promptly reporting park deaths. This includes Dan Wenk, who served as chief of operations for the park system as well as superintendent of Yellowstone National Park.
“The basic process was always to get people as much information about an incident as quickly as possible,” Wenk said. Post.
