Lands around the country that are supported by the National Park Service because of their historical importance would lose funding under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget.
The Trump administration cut to national heritage area funding was included in a budget proposal for fiscal 2026 released Friday. It also called for slashing the National Park Service operations budget by roughly $1 billion and suggested the transfer of some national park locations to state management.
The heritage area cuts would upset the mix of government and private dollars that support more than 60 national heritage areas in the United States, which include the coal region of West Virginia and the Civil War battlefields of Tennessee.
Eliminating the heritage area funding aligns with the Trump administration’s cost-cutting agenda for federal services, but it’s unclear how the proposal would play among congressional appropriators who determine the final budget.
