Recently, the administration released its detailed President’s budget, a step in the nearly year-long appropriations process. Typically this budget is more of a political statement than actual policy, since Congress holds the power to actually appropriate funding. However, it’s an important marker for an administration’s priorities, and may have particular influence this year given the makeup of Congress.

Outdoor Alliance has a number of concerns about how the President’s budget will affect the outdoors, conservation, and recreation experiences, including:

1. Major Cuts to Land Management Agencies

The proposed budget includes staggering cuts to the agencies that make outdoor recreation possible. The Forest Service faces budget cut of more than 60%, with some big structural changes proposed for the agency, including fire suppression moving out of the Forest Service entirely. The budget also includes zeroing out Forest Service programs like State and Private Forestry and Forest Service Research. The National Park Service budget is down more than 35%, with steep cuts to park operations, just as staffing shortages are straining the system ahead of peak visitation season. And the Bureau of Land Management—the largest manager of public lands—would lose 35% of its budget, with particularly sharp reductions to recreation and conservation programs.

This kind of budget doesn’t just trim fat—it hollows out the very capacity to steward and protect public lands for the people who use them.

2. Gutting the Land and Water Conservation Fund

The budget also proposes a significant change to the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF)—a vital land conservation program—that would divert its funding away from land acquisition and toward deferred maintenance. This move effectively guts the program and reverses the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, which President Trump signed in 2020.

“For more than 60 years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped create outdoor recreation opportunities in local communities in every state across the country,” said Adam Cramer, CEO of Outdoor Alliance. “Everywhere that people recreate, the outdoor community has benefitted from the parks, trails, and public lands that LWCF has made possible. The proposal in the President’s budget to gut LWCF would be devastating for the 175 million Americans who get outside to recreate each year and would unravel the President’s legacy from the Great American Outdoors Act. Outdoor Alliance hopes Congress will continue to support outdoor recreation and ensure that this popular conservation program continues for many years to come.”

3. Transferring Some National Parks to States

An outline of the President’s budget that was released earlier in May proposes transferring smaller National Park units and other public lands to state or Tribal governments. This budget did not make clear exactly what parks would be transferred, but based on statements from Secretary Burgum, it sounded like smaller historic parks like Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace or Appomattox Court House National Historical Park would be considered for transfer. The full President’s budget last week contains no further mention of these transfers, so it is not clear what the administration envisions; however, the possibility of National Parks being transferred to states would set a troubling precedent.

4. Undermining the Mission of Public Land Agencies

Our land management agencies are designed to balance multiple uses, from conservation to development to timber to outdoor recreation. In several places, the budget takes steps that would remake agencies in ways that tilt the balance heavily toward development and away from recreation and conservation. At the BLM, the budget explicitly de-emphasizes renewable energy and conservation, prioritizing fossil fuel production and mining instead. At the Forest Service, the budget calls for increased timber production. Overall, the budget steps away from multiple use with potentially long-lasting consequences for the outdoors.

As leaders in outdoor recreation, conservation, and the outdoor economy, Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor Industry Association, and The Conservation Alliance are united in our concern about the President’s FY26 budget.

“This budget sends the wrong message at the wrong time. Americans are spending more time outside than ever before, and our public lands need more care—not less. Gutting agency budgets, undermining bedrock conservation programs like LWCF, and transferring parks to state control would be devastating for the 181 million Americans who recreate outside each year. Outdoor recreation contributes more than $1.2 trillion to the economy and supports 5 million jobs, and these cuts put that success at risk. We urge Congress to reject these shortsighted proposals and invest in the public lands, waters, and infrastructure that power the outdoor recreation economy and make life better for communities across the country.”

— Outdoor Alliance, Outdoor Industry Association, and The Conservation Alliance

What’s Next

Congress will now begin work on the actual appropriations bills, and it’s critical that lawmakers hear from the outdoor community. These cuts are not inevitable—and public lands have broad, bipartisan support across the country.

Outdoor Alliance will be tracking this process closely and providing updates as the budget moves through Congress. In the meantime, we encourage everyone who cares about the outdoors to contact their elected officials and tell them to protect the places we love.

A Budget That Turns Its Back on the Outdoors