Leaders condemn firing of Presidio Trust board members by Trump administration

The Trump administration’s removal of all six Presidio Trust board members put one of San Francisco’s best-known public assets under direct federal control and reignited a fight over whether Washington can override local stewardship at a park that has become a major destination.

Termination letters went out Wednesday to every trustee, all of them appointed by President Joe Biden. The Presidio Trust confirmed the board removals and said it was awaiting word on new appointments. Mark Buell, the board chairman, said his term expired last May but that under the Trust’s law he remained in place until replaced.

The Presidio Trust was created by Congress in 1996 and began operating in 1998 to manage the former military outpost at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. The 1,500-acre site now draws more than 7 million visitors a year, with museums, hiking trails, hotels, restaurants, restored habitat and the Presidio Tunnel Tops, which opened in 2022. What was once a dilapidated Army installation is now one of the city’s most heavily used public landscapes.

Money is at the center of the fight. The Trust says it has not received annual federal operating funds since 2013 and instead supports itself through rental income from businesses and about 3,000 park residents. Its 2025 operating budget listed about $185 million in revenue and $139 million in expenses. In 2021, the Trust estimated about $470 million in deferred maintenance. Another $200 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding had been earmarked for Presidio infrastructure through the Presidio Forward project, including utility upgrades, road repaving, tree replanting, historic building restoration and work at Tunnel Tops.

Nancy Pelosi called the firings disappointing and praised the board’s leadership and dedication to the park. The move comes after the Presidio was already targeted in February 2025, when Trump ordered federal entities to be shrunk and, according to the order’s language, pushed the Trust’s functions to be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with law.

For Hidalgo County readers, the stakes are familiar. When federal officials decide the fate of land, parks or historic sites from afar, local boards can be sidelined overnight, even when the places involved depend on careful stewardship, public access and long-term investment. The Presidio fight is about San Francisco, but it is also about how much control local communities keep when Washington changes course.