3 Competing Visions for the Future of Our National Parks

If you’ve been following the federal budget process lately, you might feel like you’ve stepped into a terrifying game show, perhaps a policy version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” But the stakes couldn’t be higher considering the crisis our national parks are already in.

The Trump administration, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have each laid out their visions for our national parks and public lands, and they could not be more different. One option would gut over $1 billion from the National Park Service and put many park units on the chopping block. Another would keep parks but slash their funding and staff. And the third protects the parks and the people who care for them.

While different budgetary visions may be expected in Washington, the circumstances surrounding this year’s process have upped the game. The Park Service is experiencing a full-blown staffing crisis, losing a quarter of its permanent workforce since January. Parks across the country are struggling to keep gates open and basic services running. Some parks are scaling back visitor center hours, while others are delaying critical maintenance and research, putting the long-term protection of America’s most iconic landscapes and cultural resources in jeopardy.

Three competing funding measures offer starkly different paths forward. What’s at stake isn’t just dollars, but whether our parks will continue to be protected, staffed and open to the public. Next year’s federal budget is a critical inflection point for the Park Service, making the next steps Congress takes more important than ever before.

Here are the options being considered as Congress heads back into session in September.

1. The Administration’s Budget: A Blueprint for Dismantling the National Park System

In May, the administration released its budget plan for 2026, calling on Congress to cut more than $1 billion to the National Park Service, which includes a $900 million cut — more than 31% — to the operations of our national parks, the largest proposed cut in the Park Service’s history. The budget also proposes turning some national park sites over to states and removing them from the National Park System.

According to NPCA’s calculations, achieving a $900 million cut to operations would require eliminating funding and staffing for roughly 350 park sites from the smallest to some of the largest. This would result in more than a 75% reduction to the National Park System.

Additional Park Service-related budget cuts proposed in the President’s budget include:

• $73 million cut to park construction funding
• $77 million cut to recreation and preservation funding
• $197 million cut to the Historic Preservation Fund

NPCA’s President and CEO Theresa Pierno put it starkly when she stated that President Trump’s budget proposal, “is the most extreme, unrealistic and destructive National Park Service budget a President has ever proposed in the agency’s 109-year history. It’s nothing less than an all-out assault on America’s national parks.”

2. The House of Representatives Bill: A Significant Step Backward

In early July, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee released and passed through committee without bipartisan support its appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior and National Park Service for fiscal year 2026. While it wisely rejected the administration’s most damaging budgetary proposals, such as eliminating some park units, the House bill would still make the challenges facing our parks even more difficult.

If enacted, the bill would slash $176 million — more than 6% — from the Park Service’s operations budget at a time when parks are reeling from senseless administrative decisions that have gutted staffing, frozen hiring and pushed the National Park System into crisis.

Additionally, the bill includes a $37 million (21%) cut to construction funding, hampering the Park Service’s ability to tackle critical maintenance projects and the growing deferred maintenance backlog, a problem Congress has agreed needs bipartisan action. This bill also slashes the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by a damaging 23% ($2.1 billion), jeopardizing the critical science programs and research that parks rely on to keep air and water clean and to protect wildlife and landscapes.

Numerous policy provisions would also undermine our national parks and public lands, including:

• Less protection for national monuments designated under the Antiquities Act, potentially opening them up to development, extraction or other harmful activities.
• Removing endangered species protections for grizzly bears, risking increased hunting and habitat loss, and jeopardizing the important roles these apex predators play in maintaining healthy ecosystems.
• Withdrawing protections for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the watershed for Voyageurs National Park, which would be detrimental to public health, as well as the recreation and wildlife Voyageurs is known for.

While less extreme than the administration’s proposal, the House’s proposal would still do real harm to our national parks and public lands.

3. The Senate Bill: A Lifeline for Parks

Most recently, the Senate released and passed through committee with bipartisan support its appropriations bill for the Interior Department and other agencies for fiscal year 2026, sending a strong message of support for our national parks at a time of mounting challenges.

The bill includes flat funding for the operation of the National Park System, rejecting dramatic cuts proposed by both the Trump administration and House. Instead, it holds funding steady to support staffing, operations and public access across the Park System.

The bill also includes several provisions forcefully rejecting many of the administration’s actions that have undermined national parks and their staff. The bill:

• Requires the administration to hire and retain sufficient Park Service staff to perform the agency’s mission to protect irreplaceable resources and ensure visitor enjoyment and safety.
• Forces the administration to give Congress notice of any significant reorganization efforts, as a potential reduction in force could decimate park service staffing even further.
• Blocks the administration’s attempts to deauthorize, sell off or transfer units of the National Park System.
• Rejects the administration’s efforts to divert money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund intended for conservation purposes.
• Requires notification to Congress of any future efforts to cancel National Park Service leases.
• Forces the timely delivery of grant funds for Tribal and other community-driven efforts to protect and interpret historic resources.

At a time when maintaining current funding levels is a major win, the Senate goes even further, proactively defending the integrity of the National Park System and the people who steward it.

What’s Next

The National Park Service is only a tiny slice of our federal budget — less than one-fifteenth of 1% — yet it delivers significant economic benefits, with more than $15 in economic activity generated for each dollar invested. While the popularity of national parks has skyrocketed over the years, staffing and funding levels have not. The Park Service is already chronically underfunded and has experienced a 20% reduction in staffing since 2010, on top of the additional 24% loss of permanent staff since January. But we know that when we invest in our national parks, we all win.

The differences between these three measures could not be greater. One threatens to undo generations of conservation progress. Another chips away at park staffing and infrastructure. And the third provides a path to protect both our parks and the civil servants who care for them.

Unlike game show contestants, we don’t get to pick. But we can make our voices heard to our elected officials who make these decisions. If you care about the future of America’s national parks, now is the time to speak up. Congress must reject the damaging cuts proposed by the administration and House, and support the Senate’s strong, bipartisan stand to safeguard the places Americans cherish most.

With the Oct. 1 fiscal deadline approaching, the clock is ticking. And the future of America’s national parks is on the line.