The future of conservation has arrived in South Lake Tahoe, and it’s surprisingly quiet. Electric transit buses now glide through mountain passes that once echoed with diesel engines. In their first year of operation, five electric buses serving the Lake Tahoe area logged nearly 67,000 miles, eliminated 13,000 gallons of diesel consumption, and prevented 136 tons of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere. But these buses aren’t just an environmental win – they’re a potential financial lifeline for our struggling national park system.

As America’s natural crown jewels face their greatest fiscal threat in generations, park managers must embrace electrification as a path to survival. The proposed federal budget slashes over one billion dollars from the National Park Service – the largest cut in its 109-year history. Already, a thousand rangers have lost their jobs. Park superintendents are drafting plans for 30 percent payroll reductions. This crisis comes during record attendance, with more than 330 million visitors flocking to national parks in 2024, creating an impossible equation: do drastically more with dramatically less.

Fuel costs present a prime target for budget-conscious park managers. Every diesel-powered shuttle burns approximately one dollar of fuel per mile. Across the vast distances covered by Yosemite’s valley shuttles or Sequoia’s giant forest service, a single bus consumes tens of thousands of dollars in diesel annually – funds that could instead support vital staffing and visitor services.

Electrifying park shuttles and other vehicles offers immediate relief. Operating an electric bus costs just 44 cents per mile, and eliminates traditional maintenance expenses like oil changes and exhaust repairs. Over its twelve-year service life, a single electric bus returns more than $400,000 in avoided costs – easily justifying the higher initial investment even before grants enter the equation.

The financial barriers to electrification are falling rapidly. Tahoe’s hybrid fleet and charging infrastructure were partially funded through a $3.4 million Federal Transit Administration grant made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. California’s Innovative Clean Transit rule provides additional incentives for early adopters, while the Inflation Reduction Act offers a 30 percent tax credit for public-private charging projects. These incentives, combined with the dramatic decline in battery costs have made electric buses an affordable option for fleet operators as soon as they are put into service.

Critics argue that parks and natural areas present difficult to solve electrification or infrastructure challenges. These concerns reflect engineering challenges, not fundamental flaws. At my company, Camber, we designed Tahoe’s charging depot with these considerations in mind. Their electric buses use overhead pantographs to charge at high speed while out running their routes, limiting any range anxiety concerns. The electric buses also use regenerative braking to recharge as they descend from mountain passes, improving their efficiency by using gravity to their advantage. Similar solutions can work throughout California’s diverse park systems. What we cannot engineer away are the budget shortfalls that threaten to close campgrounds, reduce services, and ultimately force privatization of our public lands.

California has pioneered conservation before. Yosemite became America’s first federally protected landscape because Californians demonstrated that environmental stewardship could coexist with public access. Zion National Park made history as the first national park to commit to a zero-emission transportation fleet, and now it’s time for California’s parks to also lead the way by adopting a bold yet achievable timeline to transition to electric fleets.

By going electric, our treasured parks can save millions annually while insulating themselves from the political volatility in Washington. They will also demonstrate to visitors – who consistently rate the Park Service as one of America’s most beloved and trusted federal agencies – that conservation can be both cutting-edge and timeless. Our parks deserve nothing less.

Brendan Harney is the President of Camber, operator of North America’s largest fast-charging network for mission-critical fleets and a proven provider of reliable infrastructure for essential transportation services.