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The Trump Administration Is Recklessly Axing Funding and Staff for America’s National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands [1]

['Sam Zeno', 'Jenny Rowland-Shea', 'Senior Director', 'Media Relations', 'Director', 'Government Affairs']

Date: 2025-08

Every year, around the Fourth of July, many Americans head out to national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands to celebrate, unwind, and take in the wonder that the nation has to offer. But, this summer, Americans may also find long lines, crowded trailheads, and closed campgrounds—all of which result from cuts in federal staffing and spending thanks to the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). These cuts are now teed up to dramatically accelerate if Trump’s 2026 budget proposal becomes reality. The Trump administration’s proposals—many of which are already being executed—for defunding and firing workers at America’s public land agencies could mean a crisis for some of the nation’s most popular government services. The Trump administration and DOGE have fired hundreds of rangers and land managers, making parks and public lands less safe, less clean, less accessible, and more crowded than ever before. At the same time, the president has even bigger designs to decimate the budgets and staff at U.S. public land agencies: the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). A new CAP analysis finds that the Trump administration’s 2026 budget would decrease funding for these public land agencies by more than a third of 2024 levels. After accounting for inflation, it would decrease per-visitor spending by nearly 55 percent from 2011. Similarly, proposed employment for these agencies would be 30 percent lower than in 2024. In fact, the number of visitors per park or forest ranger is proposed to go up nearly 75 percent since 2011. Visitation to America’s public lands has continued to go up over the years, while funding and staffing have trended downward. These trends are punctuated by the cliff imposed by the Trump administration’s 2026 budget and mass firings. These actions will have severe consequences for the millions of Americans who love and visit parks and public lands each year. Defunding America’s parks and public lands The Trump administration’s proposed 2026 budget includes an unprecedented scale of cuts for the agencies that manage America’s outdoor spaces, campgrounds, trails, wildlife, and more. In total, the proposed budget includes a nearly $4 billion cut to national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, wilderness and recreation areas, and more. That is a 35 percent decrease from 2024 funding and will impact services such as maintenance, research, land conservation and restoration, recreation, cultural and historic preservation, and visitor services. The more than $1.2 billion cut to the NPS would be the largest cut to the agency’s budget in its 109 year history.

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Firing even more park and forest rangers These proposed budget cuts won’t happen in a vacuum. The Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposal also slashes employment across public land agencies. If enacted, there will be 30 percent fewer staff across the NPS, USFS, FWS, and BLM compared to 2024. The secretaries of Interior and Agriculture are also making major staff reallocations that appear to prioritize staff for timber, mining, and law enforcement, changing the composition and capacity of the remaining workforce.

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If the proposed budget comes to pass, the number of visitors per agency employee will have gone up nearly 75 percent since 2011. In 2011, across NPS, USFS, BLM, and FWS, there was approximately one staff member for every 9,200 public lands visitors. But, under the Trump administration’s plans, that ratio would increase to one public lands staff member per 16,000 visitors. That’s the equivalent of a single park ranger overseeing the 1.2-million-acre Grand Canyon National Park alone for a whole day.

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Land sales and transfers in the budget Threats to public lands are coming from nearly every angle. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) was forced to pull his proposal for a massive liquidation of public lands in the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” due to an outcry from people across the political spectrum. Despite this, the Trump administration’s budget mirrors this proposal to dispose of public lands by calling for the NPS to “transfer certain properties to state-level management.” The National Parks Conservation Association estimates that this policy—combined with the $900 million cut to the parks’ operation budget—would essentially end funding for 350 national parks, or 75 percent of the sites managed by the Park Service. National Heritage Areas—which include destinations such as Niagara Falls and Civil War battle fields—could suffer the same fate. States are not equipped with the proper resources to take over management of these sites. Burdening individual states with responsibility to pay for national parks would be a budget nightmare for financially strapped states. Transferring public lands to states would impact conservation, maintenance, and visitor experiences—and could even lead to these areas being sold off or privatized. Selling out America’s recreation economy These budget and staffing cuts are all happening as the number of visitors to national public lands has increased more than 20 percent over the last 20 years. If enacted, the Trump administration’s budget would decrease per-visitor spending by more than one-third from 2024 numbers—and nearly 55 percent from 2011.

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[1] Url: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administration-is-recklessly-axing-funding-and-staff-for-americas-national-parks-forests-and-public-lands/

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