President Donald Trump is using the National Park Service as a conduit to funnel money to his favorite construction firms and using Interior Secretary Doug Burgum as his bagman, as the duo spends excessive taxpayer money on Trump’s vanity projects in Washington, D.C., while strangling the rest of the Park Service.
In a new Westwise blog post, Center for Western Priorities Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger highlights examples, including $17.4 million to restore two fountains at Lafayette Park that was projected to cost just $3.3 million in 2022, $13.1 million to paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue,” which Trump originally said would cost just $1.8 millon, and a request for a $10 billion “slush fund” seemingly designed to finance Trump’s vanity projects in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, the president’s proposed 2027 budget asks for a staggering $757 million—or 26 percent—reduction in funding for the National Park System, which faces a $24 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Specifically, Trump and Burgum are also calling for a 44 percent reduction in the annual Park Service construction and major maintenance budget, leaving less than $50 million to address critical repairs at historic sites and parks nationwide.
The contrast between the administration’s treatment of the nation’s capital city and the rest of the country’s national parks is jarring and has sparked bipartisan outrage. As Groetzinger points out, “When infrastructure at national parks across the country begins to crumble as the ‘American flag blue’ reflecting pool turns green with algae, Doug Burgum will hold the blame as much as Donald Trump.”
Burgum is set to appear this morning before the House Natural Resources Committee to answer questions about Trump’s budget request for the Interior department.
Quick hits
Report: Nevada’s lithium boom comes at the expense of Indigenous rights
Colorado lawmakers have ‘deep concerns’ about federal government’s wildfire preparedness amid drought
Interior staffers raise concerns about Reflecting Pool repairs
Interior refuses to release documents related to Freedom 250, prompting lawsuit
Program protecting wildlife migration expands across West
Ted Turner owned vast swaths of Western land. What happens to them now?
Editorial: U.S. Forest Service needs reform but Trump is looking to burn it down
Opinion: A water doom loop is coming
Quote of the day
This is our land. We should have a say in what happens.”
—Fermina Stevens, Western Shoshone Defense Project, Grist
Picture This
The desert can be both beautiful and harsh. Its rugged, isolated beauty often reveals itself when you least expect it.
This banana yucca bloomed atop the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook—an incredible feat in a year when drought has pushed plants and animals to their limits.
Moments like this remind us how resilient life can be, even in the most unyielding places.
Featured image: Trump and Burgum appear at a press conference for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; Source: screenshot, LiveNow from Fox, May 7, 2026