Trump Seeks Steep Cuts to Monuments, Parks, Wildlife Protection

The Interior Department’s conservation, wildlife habitat programs, and historic preservation programs and hundreds of units of the National Park System are proposed to be eliminated under the White House’s fiscal 2026 budget request released Friday.

President Donald Trump proposed to cut the Interior Department’s budget by 30.5% from $16.8 billion in fiscal 2025 to $11.7 billion, primarily by eviscerating the National Park Service, tribal, and conservation programs.

Some of the cuts focus on eliminating national monuments that block mining and oil and gas drilling. The Bureau of Land Management is targeted for a $198 million cut to “undo” the monuments designations and cut the bureau’s Wildlife and Aquatic Habitat Management program, which the budget request says worked against fossil fuels development.

Trump is proposing to slash $609 million from the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Utah Project, a water development project. The cuts focus on “programs that have nothing to do with building and maintaining water infrastructure, such as habitat restoration,” the proposal says.

Tribal self-governance programs at the Bureau of Indian Affairs is proposed to receive a $617 million cut, including a loan program for tribal businesses. The cuts also include funding for tribal roads, housing, and social services.

Trump is proposing to cut $564 million from the US Geological Survey’s programs that provide grants to universities in order for the USGS to refocus on “dominance in energy.”

But the biggest cut in Trump’s proposal—$900 million—is to the NPS’s 433 national park units—most of which were created by Congress. The NPS manages national monuments, preserves, historic sites, recreation areas, and parks of numerous other designations.

Trump wants to dispose of the NPS units that are not called “national park” because “they receive small numbers of mostly local visitors, and are better categorized and managed as State-level parks,” the proposal says.

NPS would see many additional cuts under the proposal, including $158 million to the service’s historic preservation fund, and $77 million in NPS recreation and preservation grants to states.

The budget request says $73 million would be eliminated from the NPS construction budget due to smaller park sites being transferred to states.

The proposal calls for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ecological Service’s program to be combined with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Protected Resources, which together administer the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. FWS’s budget for its part of the program is targeted for a $37 million cut.

The Interior Department’s renewable energy programs are targeted for an $80 million cut.