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An essay that Mira D'Amato (English, ’19) wrote for an assignment in her environmental policy class was recently published on the opinion page of the .

D'Amato is calling on the federal government to re-classify National Park Service staff as essential government personnel.

“During the recent federal shutdown our national parks were left unsecured, causing years of damage, because National Park Service staff were furloughed along with hundreds of thousands of other nonessential employees,” D’Amato writes.

With no park rangers on duty at the Joshua Tree National Park in California, D’amato says trees were cut down by trespassers looking to venture off-road. She says the damage generated could take up to 300 years to fix.

“Our national parks are home to some of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is our duty to protect them,” D’amato argued.

D’Amato is minoring in Environmental Studies and Women and Gender Studies at UNE.