The Trump administration has halted more than $25 million in national park funding across the country, scrapping over 130 agreements with outside partners. This decision directly impacts Joshua Tree National Park, where nearly $1.2 million for ten vital preservation projects has been blocked.
The Interior Department, which supervises national parks, informed the Washington Post that it “disapproved” the agreements because they involved groups working against administration priorities. The department did not respond to a request for comment regarding its decision.
These blocked projects at Joshua Tree would have supported at least 16 positions aimed at protecting the park's iconic spiky succulents. All ten affected agreements were with the Great Basin Institute, a nonprofit based in Reno, Nevada. Among the planned initiatives, nearly $41,000 was designated for a fire preparedness vegetation specialist, crucial for managing critical emergency situations. Over $339,000 would have funded vegetation technicians to collect and plant native seeds, reduce invasive plants, and repair areas damaged by fire.
Further investments included almost $108,000 for a youth conservation crew dedicated to restoring wildfire-affected zones, and over $83,000 for youth biological technicians. These technicians would have ensured that road and construction projects safeguarded desert plants and wildlife. Other efforts targeted by the funding block included improving mapping technology, addressing pest infestations at Keys Ranch, and strengthening the park's archaeology program.
Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, noted that these partnerships are essential for maintaining national parks. He emphasized the importance of timely fire recovery and vegetation management, stating that delays lead to more damage and higher costs in the future. “None of these suspended agreements make any sense,” Weiss said.
Joshua trees, featured in art and popular culture, are central to the Mojave Desert ecosystem. They face threats from development, wildfires, and climate change, which imperil their habitat. While the park contains higher-elevation climate refugia expected to remain cool enough for the trees, wildfires have recently damaged several of these areas, including woodlands near Covington Flats and Black Rock Campground.
Chance Wilcox, California desert associate director for the National Parks Conservation Assn., highlighted that such agreements preserve ecosystems and offer opportunities for veterans, youth, and retirees to engage in park work. Wilcox added that these partnerships supplement resource efforts to protect and prevent damage to iconic ecosystems. He also pointed out the particular importance of outside partners given significant staffing reductions and low morale within the National Park Service, which he estimates has lost nearly a quarter of its workforce since the current administration took office.
In total, the Interior Department rejected 78 financial assistance requests from the Great Basin Institute, amounting to more than $12.7 million. Peter Woodruff, Chief Executive of the Great Basin Institute, appealed the denials. He emphasized the institute’s history of nonpartisan work across six presidential administrations, focusing on supporting public lands management and the agencies responsible for it.
Beyond the direct funding blocks, the Center for Western Priorities also identified about 1,500 projects nationwide that the National Park Service shifted to a new “low priority” list this year. Four projects at Joshua Tree National Park were included on this list. These involved painting the headquarters shade structure and the Susan Luckie Reilly House, purchasing 150 new firepits and 60 new picnic tables for campsites, replacing 17 wayside exhibits at backcountry trailheads, adding three new interpretive exhibits, and retrofitting mobile storage systems in the park’s museum facility.
Weiss from the Center for Western Priorities indicated that many projects were reclassified as low priority due to a lack of Park Service employees available to manage contracts and hire staff. He described these actions as part of an effort to weaken public lands management, creating a false pretext for later claims of insufficient resources and potential sales of public lands.