Inside the FY26 National Park Service Budget

On Jan. 19 in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, Congress passed Fiscal Year 2026 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which included some key wins for national parks. At a time when our national parks are being pushed to the brink — from devastating staffing losses to attempts to erase history and proposals to sell off national parks and other public lands — here are frequently asked questions that break down why this was a huge win for our national parks.

1. What is the Interior appropriations bill and why does it matter for the National Park Service?

The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill is one of Congress’ annual budget bills and it funds the Department of the Interior, which includes the National Park Service, along with other agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service. This bill determines how much money the Park Service will have for operations, staffing, maintenance, historic preservation and conservation. The fiscal year 2026 bill that was just signed into law will fund the Park Service through the end of September.

2. How much funding does the bill provide for National Park Service?

This legislation includes flat funding — or $2.88 billion — for the operation of the National Park System, rejecting dramatic cuts proposed by both the Trump administration and House of Representatives. Instead, it holds Park Service funding relatively steady from the previous fiscal year to support staffing, operations and public access across the National Park System.

3. How does this amount compare to the administration’s budget proposal?

Last May, the administration released its budget plan for 2026, calling on Congress to cut more than $1 billion to the National Park Service, which included a $900 million cut — more than 31% — to the operations of our national parks. This was the largest proposed cut in the Park Service’s history. The budget also proposed 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 could 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.

NPCA and our members and supporters took action against this alarming effort. Advocates across the country made thousands of calls, sent emails and raised their voices to push back against the administration’s senseless proposal. That collective effort made a real difference. In the final appropriations bill, Congress ultimately rejected this proposal and the most severe budget cuts that would have devastated our national parks after a year marked by repeated staffing attacks and severe operational challenges.

This outcome is a clear reminder that public engagement matters, and that standing up for our parks can help stop the worst proposals in their tracks.

4. What other park-related provisions are included in the bill?

There are three other important items to note:

• Guaranteed steady funding for National Heritage Areas that support historic preservation and heritage tourism in communities throughout the country
• Funding increase of 21% for the Historic Preservation Fund to preserve nationally significant historic sites
• Increased and guaranteed funding for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices to preserve significant historic properties on Tribal lands

5. Does this bill mean that parks will be able to hire back critically needed staff?

For more than a year, NPCA has been sounding the alarm about the mounting staffing crisis at the Park Service. The National Park Service has lost nearly 25% 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 Doug Burgum’s plans to slash hundreds more National Park Service staff.

Members of Congress who wrote the bill used clear language expressing their intent for the Park Service to be sufficiently staffed to meet its mission to protect world-class resources and ensure public enjoyment and safety. The bill also includes language that requires reporting on both staffing levels and visitor numbers. It is now up to the administration to follow these directives — and public pressure will likely be needed to ensure they do. NPCA will continue working with Congress to push for the staffing our parks need, especially as we approach spring, one of the busiest seasons for visitation across the Park System.

6. How does this bill protect park staff from future mass terminations?

Despite their best efforts, congressional park champions were unable to extend temporary language prohibiting future Reductions in Force across the federal government. However, the bill requires the administration to notify Congress of any significant reorganization or mass firing efforts at the National Park Service and allow for them to review and approve their plans, an essential safeguard for an agency already reeling from reckless staffing cuts.

Congress provided both the necessary funding and the bipartisan direction to the administration to adequately staff our parks. Now, it’s up to the administration to follow Congress’ directive, end their reckless attacks on park staff, and ensure that park resources can be protected and millions of people can enjoy their parks safely.

7. Does this bill affect the deferred maintenance backlog?

Unfortunately, this bill significantly cuts appropriated deferred maintenance funding, and those funds are critical to repair and rehabilitate campgrounds, visitor centers, roads, water systems, trails and more. While appropriations alone have never been enough to eliminate the backlog, they are critical to keeping essential repair and preservation work moving forward.

However, the bill supports the Legacy Restoration Fund, which was established under the Great American Outdoors Act and has been helping address the massive deferred maintenance backlog across the Park System. The bill requires the administration to be transparent in spending these funds, ensuring that a list of needed repair projects will be reported to members of Congress and funded as they intended.

In other news, after spending a year withholding park funding information from Congress, the administration will be bound by this latest bill to provide real investments in conservation projects provided by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was funded in perpetuity by the Great American Outdoors Act. This bill also rejects the administration’s efforts to divert money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund intended for conservation and other purposes.

8. What happened to the attempts to sell off public lands?

While the overall legislation included several wins for national parks, it did not include key language that NPCA and the public lands community fought hard to keep in the bill. This language affirmed that national parks must remain federal lands, providing an important guardrail to help prevent the sell-off 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, to ensure that all national parks remain intact as well as sufficiently funded and staffed.

9. The federal government entered a partial shutdown Jan. 31. Does this affect national parks?

After weeks of negotiations, Congress failed to pass a funding package for the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and several other federal agencies, which triggered a partial government shutdown. However, because Congress had already passed and the president signed into law the Interior appropriations bill, funding for the National Park Service is secure, allowing national parks to remain open, staffed and accessible, even during the partial shutdown.