Bulldozing 'America's Front Yard'

Each year, roughly 32 million Americans visit the National Mall and Memorial Parks in Washington, D.C., coming from every state, every background, every political persuasion. They stand in the shadow of the Washington Monument, trace the names of the fallen carved into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or spread a blanket near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, only steps from where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. They come to stand in places where history was made and where we gather to celebrate, speak out and be inspired.

This is where you can sense what it truly means to be American. The National Mall has been called “America’s Front Yard” for good reason. It belongs to the American people.

Congress put clear laws in place, including the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, specifically to ensure the public has a meaningful voice before anything permanently changes the National Mall landscapes that belong all of us. Our laws have ensured that our elected representatives, independent commissions, historians and experts have a role in determining what is built or changed in these most reflective and recognizable public spaces.

Across multiple fronts right now, the Trump administration is bypassing that process entirely with six projects: (see map below)

• Painting the famed Reflecting Pool blue, which experts say could alter the visual and experiential character of the pool.

• Demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House to make way for an oversized ballroom.

• Proposing a 250-foot Triumphal Arch that would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, destroy one of the country’s most iconic viewsheds, and sever the connection between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery that symbolizes the nation’s reconciliation between North and South after the Civil War.

• Proposing to convert protected West Potomac parkland into a politically curated National Garden of American Heroes, which would eliminate community green space used by locals and visitors alike for recreation, sports and events.

• Aiming to replace the affordable and publicly accessible East Potomac Golf Course with a championship golf course, modeled after Trump’s private golf clubs, for commercial tournaments.

• Ignoring National Park Service objections to a flawed lease proposal for the Rock Creek Tennis Center. Expert Park Service staff warned Trump leadership that the proposed lease conflicts with legal requirements, would harm threatened and endangered species, and would restrict community access. Warnings were ignored, according to records NPCA obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

A ‘Systematic Demolishment’ That Takes More Funds Away from Parks

The scale of these proposals, across multiple parks and landmarks, makes the pattern unmistakable: a systematic demolishment of public lands and monuments.

Perhaps even more alarming is that President Trump seeks to pay for these vanity projects with NPS money, a budget he has already proposed slashing by 25 percent. This comes on top of the loss of a quarter of the NPS workforce — more than 4,000 positions gone — since he took office. The administration is attempting to divert fee revenue from national parks across the country to fund these D.C. projects, stripping a critical lifeline that would otherwise serve national parks across the country. With national parks in D.C. already suffering from a $2.7 billion backlog of maintenance needs, these proposals will only further burden the NPS and American taxpayers for generations to come.

Safeguards Exist, But Where is Congress?

We urge Congress to stop any unauthorized construction on federal lands, ensure accountable, independent review of all projects, and make unmistakably clear that President Trump cannot remake the National Mall without the involvement of the American people. Specifically, Congress needs to:

• Reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund and block any transfer of those dollars toward unapproved Trump administration projects.

• Restore Park Service staffing and prohibit further workforce reductions without congressional approval.  

• Address the deferred maintenance backlog that includes $2.7 billion of repairs in Washington, D.C., before committing Park Service to costly new construction obligations.

• Require full compliance with park protection laws such as the Commemorative Works Act and the National Environmental Policy Act before any approvals move forward. 

• Block unauthorized construction projects that would saddle an already underfunded and understaffed National Park Service with maintenance burdens for generations to come.

The National Mall is a living inheritance, held in trust for all the American people. When selfish interests bypass the law, we will speak and fight to ensure these national parks remain what they have always been: all of ours, not anyone’s alone.

The views expressed here are those of the National Parks Conservation Association and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Park Service.