"Maintenance projects have been put off around the country and resources diverted to the president’s favored projects in Washington."
"Ever since Theodore Roosevelt ventured into the wilderness of California’s Yosemite Valley in 1903 and emerged with a sweeping conservation policy, presidents in both parties have valued the country’s national parks.
The public has, too. Polling shows that Americans of all stripes and political persuasions overwhelmingly love their parks.
But President Trump’s administration has thrown the 433 sites managed by the National Park Service into turmoil, shifting funding and workers to pet projects in Washington, slashing staff across the country and scrubbing exhibits that it says “inappropriately disparage Americans.”
Moves like putting Mr. Trump’s face on some park passes have been largely symbolic. Others have upended the lives of Park Service workers and marred the experiences of some of the hundreds of millions of people who visit national parks each year."
Maxine Joselow reports for the New York Times September 19, 2026.
