President Trump's FY20 budget proposal calls for a 14 percent cut to the Interior Department/NPS

Editor's note: This provides additional details and reaction.

It is either the best of times or the worst of times for funding the Interior Department and its many bureaus, including the National Park Service, depending on whom you ask. The Fiscal 2020 budget proposal President Trump released Monday either restores fiscal sanity to the federal government or it is so outrageous it shouldn't have been printed and will be rejected outright by Congress.

For Interior, the budget proposal slashes funding by 14 percent, to $12.6 billion. For the Park Service, the appropriation would drop to $2.7 billion under the president's proposal, an amount that if approved would continue a reduction in the agency's budget and drew condemnation.

“This is yet another extraordinarily damaging budget that would only set our national parks back farther. We are counting on Congress to reject it outright," said John Garder, senior director of budget and appropriations for the National Parks Conservation Assocaition. "The administration seems to find it acceptable to propose to cut hundreds of rangers out of our national parks.”

Since President Trump assumed office in January 2017, he has shown little outward interest in the National Park Service or its farflung collection of unique parks, battlefields, seashores, and monuments. He waited until midway through 2018 to nominate a director for the Park Service, and that nomination died in December without full Senate consideration and the candidate, Grand Teton National Park Superintendent David Vela, has yet to be renominated.

The president and his first Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, also drew much contempt in environmental and conservation circles in December 2017 when Trump issued an executive order greatly reducing the size of both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments in Utah. That action continues to be litigated in court today. 

The administration's decision to keep most of the 418 units of the National Park System open during the partial government shutdown earlier this year also drew attention, and concerns, the latter of which were realized when human waste and garbage overwhelmed some units and vandalism was reported in Joshua Tree National Park, where at least one of the park's iconic trees was cut down. That led to another controversial move, the decision by acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to authorize the use of a quarter-billion dollars from the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act accounts to pay for maintenance and custodial workers to return to the parks.

While resolution of the budgetary standoff between President Trump and Congress freed up normal operational funds to pay for those workers, and the FLREA funds were restored, groups and some members of Congress nonetheless questioned the legality of the funding diversion in the first place. As it was set up, FLREA was to assess fees for entrance into national parks and some park programs, with the revenues dedicated to paying for enhancements in the parks and to address the deferred maintenance backlog across the park system.

Late last week Bernhardt without great explanation told the Park Service to put a hold on any new projects utilizing FLREA funds until he could personally review them, as well as projects already underway. Why he initiated the review has not been revealed -- neither Interior nor Park Service staffers could say why on Monday -- and Park Service officials in Washington have not said how many projects and how many dollars are involved in the review.

President Trump's budget proposal, while hailed by his team at Interior, contains line after line after line of cuts in NPS funding, from operations (down $52.4 million) and the Historic Preservation Fund (down $64.2 million), to Construction (a $113.4 million decrease) and Land Acquisition and State Assistance (down $176.1 million). It all adds up to a proposed cut of $460.4 million for the Park Service.

"This budget is the Republican approach to governing in a nutshell: cut taxes for the super-rich and then, when it’s time to fund national priorities, lecture us about tightening our belts," said U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, chairman of the House Natural Resources Commitee. "If you think environment conservation is an unaffordable luxury, you’ll love this plan. This isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, it’s dead on arrival in Congress, and printing it was a waste of time.”

At the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Thomas J. Cassidy called the budget proposal devastating.

“Federal preservation programs and policies are essential to protecting places that tell our American story. They help ensure that historic communities remain engines of economic revitalization, and that families can learn and engage with our nation’s history in compelling ways," said Cassidy, the Trust's vice president for government relations. "But these proposed funding cuts will impact every state and Congressional district in the country. Vital resources for protecting historic places – such as the Historic Preservation Fund and its support for state and tribal historic preservation offices, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and National Heritage Areas – would by decimated by this proposal."

Acting Secretary Bernhardt, however, said the budget proposal aims to "restore fiscal sanity in Washington."

"In doing so, the Department of the Interior’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget request strikes a reasonable balance and includes several important legislative proposals to address longstanding problems like the National Park Service’s maintenance backlog," he said. "The FY 2020 budget proposal continues to ensure we are focused on providing public access to the American People, creating jobs and economic growth, protecting our natural and cultural resources, enhancing safety and security, promoting healthy working rangelands, increasing energy security, and restoring infrastructure.”

At the Park Service, Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith also offered praise for the budget proposal, saying that it "reflects President Trump’s commitment to protecting and rebuilding our national parks and public lands to ensure they may be enjoyed by future generations of Americans.”

The Interior Department proposal does support a $6.5 billion Public Lands Infrastructure Fund to address deferred maintenance not just in the National Park System, but also on wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management properties, and national forests. Another $160.1 million would be provided through the Park Service's construction budget specifically for deferred maintenance in the National Park System, according to the budget documents.

Smith said some of the funds would go towards such projects as rehabilitating the Eagle Lake Carriage road at Acadia National Park in Maine, and rehabilitating the Kennecott Leach Plant foundation at Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska. The budget document also contains $4 million for demolition and disposal of obsolete facilities, though it was not immediately clear what facilities were being eyed for removal.

The budget also calls for cutting "more than 400 full-time staff" from the Park Service, pointed out Garder at NPCA. Additionally, the adminstration wants to zero out the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which just received permanent reauthorization from Congress.

On top of all that, the budget proposal calls for deep cuts in funding for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "programs that protect the air we breathe and water we drink. This onslaught of budget cuts only compounds challenges already facing our parks and public lands," said NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno. "Yet the administration is determined to increase funding by the billions for a controversial border wall that will block wildlife migration, disrupt water flow and destroy delicate park ecosystems.

“The Park Service is already operating on shoestring budgets, and due to years of additional cuts, our parks are dealing with crumbling facilities and too few rangers and other staff to serve visitors," she added. "All of this threatens the ability to protect our cultural and natural resources from the Jefferson Memorial at the National Mall to miles of trails throughout Zion National Park."