“The president’s proposed budget plan is beyond extreme. It is catastrophic.”
That’s what Theresa Pierno, the head of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an urgent press release on Friday.
“If enacted by Congress, our national park system would be completely decimated.”
She’s talking about U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for 2026, which would pump $1 trillion into military spending while gutting education, housing, medical research, poverty assistance—and simply walking away from maintaining much of our shared national park system.
Trump wants to hack the budget for America’s national parks, historic sites, seashores, and trail systems by an astonishing 25%—and what’s more, he’s laying plans to transfer national lands that have been long held in federal public trust over to state governments to oversee as they choose.
In March, the Trump Administration moved to go after the low-hanging fruit of rented property, terminating leases that function as offices, visitor centers, and museums for some 34 national park units.
But his proposed budget, issued by the White House last week, is “an all-out assault on America’s national parks,” Pierno said.
National Parks Conservation Association, or NPCA, is a politically independent citizens’ group that was formed over a century ago to defend and protect the shared public lands of the United States. It has more than 1.2 million members.
The unprecedented Trump numbers would “essentially wipe out budgets and staffing for at least 350 national park units,” the NPCA warned, or “effectively 75% of our Park System.”
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, another citizen-led group, implored Congress to reject Trump’s budget. “If enacted, it would be the largest cut ever to the National Park Service and exacerbate an already deeply problematic and dangerous situation. Congress should reject this budget and fully fund our National Parks.”
Budget portrays national heritage as not important enough
Again and again in its budget proposal, the Trump White House attempted to lay the groundwork to move stewardship of much of our federal National Park Service to state control by characterizing much of our system as lacking in national importance.
For example, Trump’s axmen justified cutting $158 million from the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Fund by writing, “many historic preservation projects have matching funds from State, local, and private sources, rendering the Historic Preservation Fund highly duplicative. Further, the projects are often of local, rather than national, significance.”
Notably, Trump’s team did not say which aspects of American history they consider unworthy of American federal support, but we can guess.
Trump’s bureaucrats also did not indicate which NPS sites they wish to downgrade to state parks.
Anyone who has been to a state park knows that state control usually results in underfunded, less organized, less consistent, worse-protected, and more poorly maintained lands that are more susceptible to the vagaries of petty local politics.
Trump’s staff is attempting to do something similar to our U.S. national forests by trying to open nearly 60% of them to logging by removing environmental review obstacles, which will largely require state-level cooperation to undertake.
“A betrayal. The American people won’t stand for it.”
Trump’s budget aims to chop an incredible $900 million from national park operations alone, which goes to basics such as maintenance, facilities, daily activities, programs, and visitor services.
Our national parks already face a backlog of some $23 billion in maintenance requirements—an amount that state budgets are wildly unlikely to be able to meet.
At the same time, Trump wants to increase military spending to $1 trillion, a 13% increase.
How does that compare with what other segments of government services receive? “In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. spent 62% of the discretionary budget on military spending, totaling more than $1.1 trillion,” writes Mike Merryman-Lotze of Common Dreams “This left only 38% of discretionary funding to pay for education, infrastructure, scientific research, diplomacy, agriculture, social programs, and more.”
Trump’s new budget makes that imbalance even more dramatic.
In 2024, the U.S. national park system attracted nearly 332 million visitors—and made money for communities that serve it.
Pierno said the Trump Administration intends to “dismantle the Park Service—freezing hiring, forcing resignations, eliminating purchasing ability, canceling leases, and banning travel.”
But all is not lost yet.
Trump’s proposed budget isn’t set in law—Congress can refuse to pass it as he wrote it.
If you don’t want these brutal cuts made to the protection and maintenance of public lands that our ancestors delivered to us and have been been ably protected by our government for generations, contact your elected representatives on Capitol Hill and tell them how you feel.
For over a century, Americans have loved and protected our national parks, battlefields, historic sites, recreation areas and so much more. We can’t be the generation that lets an administration’s reckless agenda unravel this great legacy.
Theresa Pierno, NPCA’s President and CEO
The rest of Pierno’s five-alarm warning is below:
“Americans love their national parks and want to see them protected, but this administration’s actions do not match the will of the people. This administration is trying to dismantle the Park Service from the inside out, slashing park staff and now attempting to give away hundreds of national park sites that protect our nation’s irreplaceable history and culture and inspire and educate millions every year.
“For generations, Americans have believed that some places are so special that they should be protected for all time, and for all to experience. And that’s the mission Congress gave to the Park Service more than one hundred years ago. The Park Service is our nation’s greatest protectors and storytellers. And our more than 430 national parks are our nation’s greatest legacy. Any effort to hand many of these sites over to the states is a betrayal, and the American people won’t stand for it. If members of Congress truly care about the future of our national parks, now is the time to speak out and put a stop to this.
“This proposal strikes at the heart of who we are as a nation. NPCA and our millions of supporters are ready to fight back—for our parks, for our history and for our future.”
