What Trump's proposed budget would mean for public lands in Utah and beyond

SALT LAKE CITY — The Trump administration revealed its long-awaited budget proposal last week, and included is millions of dollars in funding — and in some cases, spending cuts — to land management agencies for the next fiscal year.

The proposed budget for the Department of Interior, the department tasked with overseeing and managing the country's lands, is roughly $16.1 billion for the 2027 fiscal year — about a 1.3% decrease from last year's budget. By the end of next year, the department is predicted to generate $19.8 billion in revenue, according to Interior projections.

The budget covers spending for lands such as national parks, national wildlife refuges, multiple-use lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, and other related agencies.

Renew National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund

Part of the Interior budget would reauthorize the National Parks and Public Land Legacy Restoration Fund, which was first established in 2020 but expired last October due to congressional inaction.

President Donald Trump's latest budget proposal requests to renew the program and allocate $1.9 billion per year for five years toward the National Park Service. The money can then be used to complete extensive and overdue maintenance projects and repairs in national parks.

The program was first approved in the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act and allocated an initial $1.3 billion over a five-year period. However, that program expired in October when Congress failed to include it in another budget.

The fund allows national parks to repair and replace aging buildings, roads, trails, campgrounds and water treatment systems as well as undertake large-scale projects that would otherwise not be met through annual funding.

Those funds have gone to a number of Utah national parks over the years, including Bryce, Canyonlands and Zion, as well as campgrounds, trails, visitor centers and other land in the Beehive State managed by the BLM.

Conservation groups raise concerns about funding cuts

The total requested funding for the National Park Service is roughly $2.2 billion, with cuts proposed throughout the budget — raising concerns among conservation groups who say it could threaten national parks nationwide.

The park operations budget now sits at $2.1 billion, a 25% reduction that could result in the elimination of park staff positions, according to the Center for Western Priorities. The president's request also proposes cutting the construction budget to $48.7 million, leaving it with 72% less funding than the 2025 budget.

In terms of staffing, the budget proposed an 18% reduction in full-time staff, equaling about 2,920 full-time equivalent staff positions being cut. The number of full-time positions carved out in the 2027 budget is 13,119.

The reduction in staff positions was justified as a way to "reflect the funding priority given to NPS core operations and identify savings from programs and areas outside the National Park System core mission," according to the budget.

But conservation groups warn it could cause concerns, particularly as Western states enter wildfire season.

"National parks are already short-staffed heading into summer. 2026 is shaping up to be one of the driest and most dangerous years for Western communities," Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, said in a statement. "This budget tells the people who do that work and live in the West that things are only going to get worse."

The budget also continues a policy implemented by Trump earlier this year charging nonresidents of the United States $250 for an annual pass to visit national parks or a $100 per-person entry fee for nonresidents who do not have annual passes. That latter charge would be implemented at 11 of the most visited national parks.

The National Park System covers 85 million acres across the U.S. and includes 433 sites. Those sites include 139 historical parks or sites, 87 national monuments, 63 national parks, 31 national memorials, 25 battlefields or military parks, and another 88 units that are designated as National Park Service land.

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Central Utah Project Completion Act

The Department of Interior budget also carves out funds for the Central Utah Project Completion Act, which allocates money to go toward key water projects while also supporting environmental protection.

The budget would dedicate $17 million toward the program, roughly a $46 million decrease from the year before. The funds were requested in order to carry out the program's priorities in a "cost effective, environmentally sound, and timely manner," according to the budget.

The budget would grant funds toward continuing construction of the Utah Lake Drainage Basin Water Delivery System, which is the final component of the Central Utah Project. The program was enacted as a way to move water from the Colorado River system into Utah communities, particularly those along the Wasatch Front.

The project is the "largest and most complex water resources development project undertaken by the Bureau of Reclamation in the state of Utah," according to the Interior Department.

The funding is separate from the $1 billion requested to go toward the Great Salt Lake, which was included as its own budget line.

Cuts to conservation at BLM with funding shifts toward energy development

The funding request for the Bureau of Land Management includes spending cuts across the budget for certain wildlife, conservation, environmental review and other areas while prioritizing spending for energy development.

The budget states it has focused its efforts on advancing the Trump administration's priorities "related to American Energy Dominance, promoting economic growth, maintaining healthy rangelands, and reducing the cost of living." As part of that goal, the budget prioritizes allocating resources toward BLM's oil, gas, coal and critical mineral management programs.

Total proposed funding for the agency in the upcoming fiscal year is $936.1 million, a roughly $489 million reduction from the year before. Much of those cuts would come from a 27% decrease in full-time staff, according to the budget.

Agencies such as Wildlife Habitat Management and Aquatic Resources, Cultural Resources Management, National Conservation Lands, and Recreation Management would experience millions of dollars in cuts. Meanwhile, areas such as oil, gas, and coal management would receive proposed spending cuts.

Oil and gas management alone would receive $115.8 million, about $7 million above last year's budget. Oil and gas inspection and enforcement would be funded at roughly $53 million, a $3.8 million increase.

Coal management would receive about $17.5 million under the new budget, a $1.6 million increase from 2026. Meanwhile, proposed funding for "renewable energy" sits at $0 — an elimination of the $25 million program carved out in last year's budget.

Relocate wildfire programs

Part of Trump's proposed budget would create a unified Wildland Fire Service that moves those operations out of the Forest Service and would instead be under the umbrella of the Department of the Interior.

The proposed budget would carve out $3.96 billion for fire service operations, with another $2.95 billion in reserve funding — a total of $6.9 billion. Doing so, the administration argues, would increase coordination with partners, improve operation efficiency, and create a "more integrated national approach to wildfire preparedness and response."

The funding reorganization is part of the Trump administration's larger plans to refocus the Forest Service on "core land and resource management mission through timber production." But conservation groups have said this amounts to "dismantling" the agency, arguing it could raise risks during wildfire season.

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