The Trump administration is reportedly eyeing dozens of grants across the National Park Service for termination, according to reporting from the New York Times, one of several moves destabilizing the US’s investment in public lands.
According to the newspaper, staff members at Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” have created a spreadsheet of federal grants earmarked for cuts, with total funding cuts amounting to some $26m.
The proposed eliminations follow a familiar pattern for the Trump administration, with reasons given for program cuts including “climate change/sustainability”, “DEI” and “LGBQ”. Programs listed for potential elimination include “Scientists in Parks”, which places undergraduate and graduate students as well as early-career scientists across the country in natural resource management-focused positions.
The focus on DEI, LGBTQ issues and climate change matches cuts “Doge” has made across the federal government, and specifically at the Department of the Interior, which houses the National Park Service. The interior department and the NPS were heavily hit by Doge’s early rounds of layoffs, along with the US Forestry Service, which manages nearly 200 million acres of public land.
Since then, the administration has continued to slash at the NPS’s workings. Earlier this spring, the department closed the National Park Service Academy, which was a partnership designed to bring Americans from underrepresented backgrounds into the park service and make a more diverse set of Americans feel comfortable working in and exploring the outdoors.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that the administration has suspended air quality monitoring programs at national parks across the country, issuing stop work orders to two companies providing the monitoring. Some park service staffers have requested that the stop work orders are rescinded.
And more cuts appear to be on the horizon. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the full cost of proposed cuts could bring a 75% reduction to NPS services in order to meet the goal of an over $1bn funding reduction.
Critics have said that cuts to the NPS, Department of the Interior and US Forestry Service not only risk the preservation of America’s national parks, but could put land management and fire reduction in jeopardy as well.
They also have the potential to hit rural, and often conservative, parts of the country economically the hardest. National parks in particular can be an economic engine, generating over $55.6bn in economic input, according to the National Park Service.
Resistance within the National Park Service to the Trump administration’s plans has been spirited, with over 300 billboards erected across the country protesting cuts, and protesters rallying in support of parks across the country in recent months.
