June 13, 2025
Dear Members of Congress,
We, the members of the National Parks Second Century Action Coalition1The National Parks Second Century Action Coalition is made up of organizations supporting conservation, recreation, outdoor industry, travel and tourism and historic preservation that are dedicated to promoting the protection, restoration, and enjoyment of the National Park System for the long-term benefit it offers our nation., and other organizations are alarmed by the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) budget that proposes over $1.2 billion in cuts to the National Park Service (NPS) and urge you to reject it. If enacted, it would be the largest cut in NPS history, with a loss of nearly a third of the NPS budget. With this magnitude of cuts on top of the loss of at least 16% of the workforce in the last two years, with more than 13% just since January, the National Park Service’s (NPS) may not able to uphold its congressional mandate to “conserve the scenery, natural and historic objects, and wildlife within national parks and to provide for their enjoyment in a way that leaves them unimpaired for future generations.” We urge you to oppose this proposal that drastically undermines and eviscerates the National Park System. We wrote to you on May 12th to urge needed increases for NPS and this drastic proposal goes in the opposite direction with damaging cuts that would have impacts for years.
NPS Operations Account
The President’s budget proposes to slash $900 million from the operations account and transfer smaller and/or less visited parks to the states. If the NPS units with the smallest budgets were added together, it would take over 350 historic sites, monuments, preserves and other NPS units to achieve that level of savings—over three-fourths of the National Park System. These beloved park units are spread across the U.S.
These popular and irreplaceable sites were designated by Congress—with bills introduced and supported by members on both sides of the political aisle—and by presidents from both parties. They have been determined to have significant historical value, protecting places as diverse as the Flight 93 National Memorial, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Big Cypress National Preserve and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. And many—such as those in Alaska—may not be well visited due to their remote locations but preserve some of the most extraordinary wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities in the United States.
So many of these sites preserve our history—from the profound archaeological sites of the Southwest to the birthplaces of American presidents to Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields to sites like Minidoka and Sand Creek Massacre that teach Americans about the painful chapters in our history. They not only protect the places where our history took place, but they also allow Americans of all ages to learn and reflect. They were designated with local support to preserve history, archaeology and places of significant recreational value to hundreds of millions ofpeople each year. While these sites were not designated for their economic potential and should not be viewed merely as financial assets, they do generate significant tourism and resulting economic activity. Many of the units that may be threatened have been designated in more recent decades. For the nearly fifty NPS sites designated since 2000, there is more than $21 in visitor spending for every dollar NPS invests.
Transferring NPS units to states would be an affront to the work of countless communities, bipartisan members of Congress and presidents to preserve and interpret these places. No administration can unilaterally give away national park sites. It’s incumbent on this subcommittee and the broader Congress to ensure these places remain intact and protected by the National Park Service. We call on members of this subcommittee to reject this proposal to eliminate operations funding for NPS units and reject proposals to reduce sites of their national significance.
NPS Construction Account
The budget also proposes a troubling $73 million (42%) cut to NPS Construction, undermining the bipartisan investment in the deferred maintenance backlog that Congress has demonstrated in recent years. The Great American Outdoors Act’s National Park and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund (LRF) has successfully augmented appropriations and other funding sources that have long been insufficient to maintain national parks and public land and has supported more than thousands of projects in parks and other public lands in all 50 states and several Territories. This proposal to slash maintenance funding suggests that investments can be focused on the larger, more highly visited parks—the National Parks “in the traditionally understood sense,” an erroneous label. Such an approach to appropriated funding and funding through the LRF would undermine Congress’ intent to ensure national parks, large and small, less visited and more visited, all receive the repairs and attention they need and deserve all throughout the country. The reductions for construction oversight and management planning are also problematic.
Land and Water Conservation Fund
Similarly, the President’s proposal to plunder the Land and Water Conservation Fund is unacceptable. With more and more Americans recreating on our nation’s public lands, conserving inholdings, historic landscapes, wildlife corridors and valuable ecological lands is valued by the public locally, regionally and nationally. Robbing this critical conservation program only threatens the protection of our national parks and other special places. Congress made a commitment to fund LWCF with the passage of the Great American Outdoor Act and should not undermine this critical conservation tool.
Historic Preservation Fund and National Recreation and Preservation Accounts
The budget also proposes eviscerating the Historic Preservation Fund and National Recreation and Preservation accounts. Both these accounts support the democratization of historic preservation and cultural and natural resource stewardship by funding community-driven efforts to establish increased access for all to our public lands and an enhanced understanding of ourshared history. These programs and grants—ranging from Save Americas Treasures grants to National Heritage Areas to the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program are popular in communities of all demographics, in many cases there are no other programs to support these locally-driven conservation, recreation and historic preservation efforts—they deserve this subcommittee’s support.
For more than a century, our national parks have remained America’s favorite places, important pieces of our natural and cultural heritage designated for future generations to explore and enjoy. They not only protect unique historic and natural resources but also support the national economy with more than fifteen dollars in economic activity for every dollar invested. In 2023, 325 million park visitors spent an estimated $26.4 billion in local gateway communities while visiting NPS sites across the country. These expenditures supported a total of 415,000 jobs. In addition, America’s outdoor recreation economy supports over 5 million American jobs and contributes $1.2 trillion in annual economic output. In 2022, there were over 50.8 million international arrivals to the United States and research indicates that national parks were a huge tourism attraction for those visitors.
NPS needs financial resources to protect the irreplaceable resources in our national parks and ensure both domestic and international visitors have the experience they deserve. It is critical that Congress provide investments for national parks in the FY 2026 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies appropriation bill and reject the President’s proposal. We sent a letter on May 12th with our requests (attached).
Thank you for considering our views,
American Hiking Society
American Society of Landscape Architects
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Atomic Heritage Foundation
Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park
East Bay Regional Park District
Friends of Acadia
Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
Friends of Katahdin Woods & Waters
Friends of Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park
Friends of Saguaro National Park
The Fund for People in the Parks
Green Latinos
International Inbound Travel Association
Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy
National Parks Conservation Association
National Park Solutions
Partnership for the National Trails System
Restore Oregon
Sandy Hook Foundation
Scenic America
Shenandoah National Park Trust
Southeast Tourism Society
United States Tour Operators Association