National Parks May Be Spared Deeper Cuts In 2026 Amid Grassroot Protests

Forbes

15-07-2025

Congress appears to have backed off of deeper slashes to next year's National Park Service budget, as advocacy groups mobilize public support through grassroots campaigns.
A billboard in Colorado protests DOGE staffing cuts to the National Park Service. More Perfect Union
On Tuesday, a House appropriations subcommittee marked up a budget bill for the Department of the Interior, providing $3.1 billion to the National Park Service (NPS) in 2026—essentially keeping the funding level even with this year's budget, with committee chair Tom Cole, R-Okla., saying 'We are aggressively saving taxpayer dollars while funding our nation's most important needs.'
In a letter to the Senate appropriations committee in May, President Trump had recommended cutting $900 million from the NPS budget next year.
Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, the NPS has lost 24% of its permanent staff and had filled only 56% of its seasonal summer positions as of early this month, according to the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), a nonprofit advocacy group.
On Monday, Rethink the Deal, a nonprofit organization focused on inequities in how federal taxes are distributed, launched a grassroots national storytelling campaign calling on national park visitors to submit personal reflections of how cuts negatively impacted their experience.
Last month, advocacy groups called for the public to hijack the government's 'snitch signs' that encourage visitors in federal parks to report information 'negative about either past or living Americans.'
In March, a group calling itself the Resistance Rangers—made up of roughly 700 off-duty rangers—mobilized thousands at national parks from California to Maine to protest the Trump administration's firing of at least 1,000 NPS employees.
President Trump's agenda has largely followed the playbook laid out in Project 2025, a 920-page policy wish list from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, which recommends granting extractive industries—oil, gas, mining, and logging—broad access to federal lands, citing Alaska's 'untapped mineral potential.' The document calls for reducing the size of national monuments, rescinding recent monument designations and making hundreds of millions of acres of public lands eligible for sale. It also recommends killing President Biden's 'America the Beautiful' initiative, which aimed to protect 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030 and address the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequitable access to nature. In addition, Project 2025 proposes weakened protections for endangered species, including delisting the gray wolf and grizzly bear. Republicans in Congress have been supportive of this agenda. 'Our nation is stronger because of the work done by [the Department of the Interior] to unleash American energy, strengthen domestic mineral supply chains and promote access to our natural resources. Committee Republicans stand ready to support President Trump and Secretary Burgum in their work,' Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) , the House Committee on Natural Resources chairman said in a statement last month.
$55.6 billion. That's how much U.S. national parks visitors injected into local economies in 2023, including $26.4 billion in direct spending, according to an NPS report noting that national park visitation supported 415,000 jobs at local hotels, restaurants, attractions and shops. Comparatively, the parks received $3.6 billion from U.S. taxpayers that year. Congress has cut the NPS budget every year since. In fiscal year 2024 and 2025, Congress appropriated $3.3 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively. Advocacy groups argue the NPS is not a drag on the federal taxpayer but is instead a benefactor. 'The National Park Service is only a tiny slice of our federal budget—less than one-fifteenth of one percent—yet delivers significant economic benefits, with more than $15 in economic activity generated for every dollar invested,' according to a NPCA statement.
The bill advances to the full House Appropriations Committee and, if approved, will proceed to the House floor for debate and a vote. If it passes the House, it moves to the Senate for a similar process, all of which may take weeks or months. National park advocacy groups say it's too early for protests to ease. 'Today's subcommittee markup is a positive step, but there's still a long road ahead,' a spokesperson for Rethink the Deal told Forbes. 'Between the Administration's proposed cuts and the staffing crisis created by DOGE, it's clear our national parks are being treated as a burden rather than economic engines that contribute $55.6 billion to local economies.' Crucial Quote
The proposed budget cuts were 'nothing less than an all-out assault on America's national parks,' Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the NPCA, said in a statement in May. 'This is the most extreme, unrealistic and destructive National Park Service budget a President has ever proposed in the agency's 109-year history.' Tangent
Last year, a Pew Research survey found 76% of Americans have a favorable opinion about the National Park Service—the most popular of 16 agencies, beating the U.S. Post Office (72%), NASA (67%) and the CDC (55%). At the bottom of the favorability barrel were the IRS (38%) and the Justice Department (43%). Further Reading
National Park Service To Be Hit With 1,500 Additional Layoffs And Deep Budget Cuts, Reports Say (Forbes)
FULL HEARING: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum Testifies Before The House Natural Resources Committee (Forbes Video)