Reporting from Washington
Sept. 19, 2026
Ever since Theodore Roosevelt ventured into the wilderness of California’s Yosemite Valley in 1903 and emerged with a sweeping conservation policy, presidents in both parties have valued the country’s national parks.
The public has, too. Polling shows that Americans of all stripes and political persuasions overwhelmingly love their parks.
But President Trump’s administration has thrown the 433 sites managed by the National Park Service into turmoil, shifting funding and workers to pet projects in Washington, slashing staff across the country and scrubbing exhibits that it says “inappropriately disparage Americans.”
Moves like putting Mr. Trump’s face on some park passes have been largely symbolic. Others have upended the lives of Park Service workers and marred the experiences of some of the hundreds of millions of people who visit national parks each year.
The changes have come one after the other, affecting everything from the rugged shorelines of Acadia National Park in Maine to the high desert of Joshua Tree National Park in California.
Early last year, the Trump administration began making steep cuts to the Park Service work force, leaving at least 20 percent of parks significantly understaffed. This spring, the administration used at least $67 million generated by entrance fees from parks to help fund projects in Washington favored by Mr. Trump, like the botched Reflecting Pool repairs. As a result, hundreds of repairs and upgrades around the country may go unfunded this year, according to government documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Source: the NYT. read the full story here
We can’t control what others do and we can’t stop misfortune from striking. But we can control our own actions. Those who are financially prudent will most likely enjoy success, even if events don’t always go their way.
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