Targeted by DOGE, Mississippi River national park office and visitor center will keep their sites for now

Staff at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area won’t face losing their current headquarters in St. Paul at end of the year after all, according to a group that advocates for the national parks.

The lease for the recreation area’s visitor center at the Science Museum of Minnesota won’t be terminated either, as feared, at the end of September.

Both leases had been targeted last winter, among hundreds of federal properties across agencies singled out to close by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to save money.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal real estate, has reversed more than 100 lease terminations proposed by DOGE.

Now, leases for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) and its visitor center of exhibits extend into 2026, said Christine Goepfert, Midwest campaign director of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Goepfert said it is uncertain how MNRRA was removed from the termination list, but said congressional pressure helped.

“It gives the National Park Service more time for where it wants to land,” Goepfert said, adding that MNRRA is considering a new location for its main office, currently in Kellogg Square in St. Paul.

The park covers about a 72-mile river corridor from Ramsey to south of Hastings. It links state, regional and local parks. MNRRA is among five NPS units in Minnesota, including Voyageurs National Park, Grand Portage and Pipestone national monuments, and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Goepfert said the NPS’ loss of staff and funding is “the next fight” when Congress returns after Labor Day to hash out funding for the 2026 fiscal year.

As of June, the NPS had 12,600 full-time employees, which is 24% fewer than it had before the Trump administration came into office, she said. The impact is felt in St. Paul: MNRRA Superintendent Matthew Tucker Blythe currently is also managing the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore in Wisconsin.

The agency also has a hiring freeze, but the Department of Interior exempted seasonal workers.

Goepfert’s group applauded recent action in the Senate as pushback against the whirlwind of reductions.