Trump diverts $90 million in park fees to Washington beautification

The Trump administration has used at least $90 million from national park entry fees to help pay for beautification work in Washington, D.C., even as the National Park Service put its maintenance backlog at an estimated $24 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. Roughly 400 park sites are dealing with crumbling roads, trails and historic assets, and the agency manages more than 70,000 facilities and other property across the system.

The spending sits inside a legal framework that was supposed to keep most recreation revenue close to the parks that generated it. Under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, at least 80% of recreation fees are meant to stay at the park where they were collected, while the remaining 20% can be used agency-wide. The Great American Outdoors Act National Parks and Public Lands Legacy Restoration Fund provided up to $1.3 billion a year for five years through 2025.

Sen. Adam Schiff opened an inquiry on June 10, 2026, calling the diversion unprecedented and warning that it could strip individual parks of millions of dollars. The letter identified ornamental fountain repairs, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and gold leaf on statues as spending tied to the America 250 buildup in the capital.

By July 2, the Washington beautification push had topped more than $101.9 million. About $72 million came from national park visitor fees, roughly $25 million came from other Interior Department accounts, and $5 million in donations helped cover the Reflecting Pool renovation. That total was 1,575% higher than what went to the capital in 2024, when only $4.3 million was pulled from the fee fund for Washington, D.C., park projects; similar amounts were spent in 2020 through 2023.

The White House listed about 100 America 250 beautification projects, but federal contracting data showed price tags for only about a quarter of them. Aaron Weiss of the Center for Western Priorities called the administration prioritizing projects visible from the White House over nationwide park infrastructure that still needs repair. The Interior Department defended the spending. D.C. residents and visitors are seeing working fountains for the first time in decades while deferred maintenance continues elsewhere.