‘Bleak Vision’: New Details Emerge on National Park Service Cuts
June 02, 2025 | Source: SF Gate | by Kylie Mohr
The Donald Trump administration offered new details about how it wants to cut $1.2 billion from the National Park Service in a proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 that the White House released Friday night. The suggested cuts in an over 1,000-page document are yet another blow to the beleaguered National Park Service and its staff, who are tasked with protecting iconic landscapes for current and future generations amid dramatic staffing reductions and record-breaking visitation.
The Trump administration first proposed the historically meager budget in early May, but details were sparse. The newly released document offers more insight into where $1.2 billion in cuts would come from.
The cuts include sweeping reductions to funding park management, from an estimated $2.67 billion in 2025 to $1.8 billion in 2026, an almost $900 million loss that represents a third of the budget.
It also includes slashing funds for numerous national recreation and preservation programs within the park service. Natural resource programs would see almost 95% of their funding cut from current totals. Meanwhile, cultural programs would lose 60% of their funding. The National Heritage Areas Program, which supports 62 national heritage areas, would lose all of its funding, with the fate of those places unclear.