Senate Rejects Devastating National Park Funding and Staffing Cuts but Leaves Door Open to Future Threats

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Senate introduced a three-bill appropriations package that includes the Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. The bill includes some key wins for national parks as well as a temporary defeat on which NPCA and the larger parks community will remain vigilant. The legislation includes flat funding for the Operation of the National Park System, rejecting dramatic cuts proposed by both the Trump administration and House of Representatives. Instead, it holds this funding steady to support staffing, operations and public access across the Park System.

The bill also includes key provisions seeking to retain and rehire urgently needed Park Service staff, which would help restore the agency’s capacity to protect our parks, as well as require congressional notification of any plans for future mass firings. And after spending a year withholding park funding information from Congress, the administration will be bound by this bill to provide real investments in conservation projects and park infrastructure repairs.

For months, NPCA has been sounding the alarm about the mounting staffing crisis at the Park Service. The National Park Service has lost more than 24% of its permanent workforce since January 2025. Park staff are being pulled from the field, visitor centers are closing or reducing hours, and critical maintenance and research are falling behind. Despite the mounting impacts to parks, court-ordered documents revealed Interior Secretary Burgum’s plans to slash hundreds more National Park Service staff.

Thanks to the hard work of many congressional park champions, the bill, negotiated by both parties in the Senate and House, retains the Park Service’s operating budget, maintaining support for park rangers, biologists, cultural resource experts and visitor services staff who are being stretched to the limit. The bill also includes several provisions ensuring needed congressional oversight of the administration’s damaging actions undermining national parks and their staff.

While the overall legislation includes several wins for national parks, it does strip key language that NPCA and the national park community have been fighting for weeks to keep in. This language affirmed that national parks must remain federal lands, providing an important guardrail to help prevent the selloff of our national parks. Despite intense public pressure from national park advocates across the country, including bipartisan congressional support to keep the language in, the protective language was ultimately removed from the final bill. NPCA and park supporters will remain vigilant, ensuring all national parks remain intact as well as funded.

Additional park-related provisions included in 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.
• Requires the administration to give Congress notice of any significant reorganization or mass firing efforts, as a potential Reduction in Force could decimate Park Service staffing even further.
• Rejects the administration’s efforts to divert money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund intended for conservation purposes.
• Requires transparency in spending Great American Outdoors Act deferred maintenance funds, ensuring that a list of needed repair projects will be both reported to Congress and funded as they intend.
• Rejects policy provisions in the House bill that would undermine the wildlife, clean air and water in our national parks.

The clock continues to tick as Congress has only a few weeks to pass funding for the National Park Service. This bipartisan Appropriations bill is the support our national parks need and the path Congress should back.

Below is a statement from Theresa Pierno, President and CEO for the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA):

“NPCA and park advocates across the country have been sounding the alarm on the need for park funding and staffing for months, and Congress listened. This bipartisan budget bill rejects the Trump administration’s reckless $1 billion funding cut that would have devastated our parks. These funding levels should keep parks open and staff on the ground as the system has been nearing a breaking point after losing a quarter of its permanent workforce in 2025.

“But funding alone isn’t enough. Congress missed an opportunity to double down on its commitment to ensuring national parks are not sold off.

“NPCA and national park advocates will never stop fighting to protect our most treasured places. Our national parks are not for sale. Not one park, not one acre, not one inch, is up for grabs. We urge all members of Congress to ensure national parks remain safe, accessible and well cared for now and for future generations.”

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About the National Parks Conservation Association: Since 1919, the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) has been the leading voice in safeguarding our national parks. NPCA and its more than 1.9 million members and supporters work together to protect and preserve our nation’s most iconic and inspirational places for future generations. For more information, visit www.npca.org.