Federal budget proposes deep cuts to National Park Service, could impact Ohio sites

OHIO — National parks across Ohio could face major setbacks under President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 budget, which includes a $1.2 billion cut to the National Park Service (NPS) — nearly 40 percent of the agency’s funding.

According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the proposal would “gut the National Park Service, jeopardizing the protection, maintenance and operation of our more than 430 national parks across the country.”

In Ohio, that includes sites like Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, and First Ladies National Historic Site.

The plan also suggests transferring some federally managed park sites to state control — a move that has never before been proposed by a U.S. president.

The budget document states: “The National Park Service responsibilities include a large number of sites that are not ‘National Parks,’ in the traditionally understood sense, many of which receive small numbers of mostly local visitors and are better categorized and managed as State-level parks.”

While the administration has not identified which sites would be affected, the cuts could significantly reduce staffing, maintenance, programming, and preservation work throughout Ohio’s NPS sites.

The proposal follows a record-breaking year for the National Park Service in 2024, which saw more than 331 million visits nationwide.

Despite this popularity, the National Parks Conservation Association warns that the administration is “systematically dismantling the Park Service—freezing hiring, forcing resignations, eliminating purchasing ability, canceling leases and banning travel.”

If enacted, the cuts would include:

• $900 million from park operations
• $77 million from recreation and preservation grants
• $73 million from construction funds
• $197 million from the Historic Preservation Fund, including $158 million directly from NPS programs

For 2025, the NPS received $3.1 billion in federal funding. The proposed cut represents 38 percent of that total.

The budget now moves to Congress, where lawmakers will determine whether to approve, revise, or reject the proposed changes.