Natasha Blakely, natasha.blakely@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, DC – The Trump administration’s official budget request for fiscal year 2026, released Friday, includes a massive rollback of a major conservation funding program, unprecedented cuts to the National Park Service, and further reductions to federal programs aimed at connecting kids and communities with the outdoors.
The budget request calls for $387 million to be diverted from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), one of the most significant federal conservation funds. Established in 1964, LWCF provides grants for conservation and recreation projects on federal, state and local levels. The program is funded by revenue from offshore oil and gas leases, in response to the environmental damage caused by oil and gas drilling. The move to cut the program’s funding is a major reversal as the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, passed in 2020 and signed into law by Donald Trump in his first term, permanently funded the LWCF.
The budget request also slashes popular conservation programs at the Bureau of Land Management, grant programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that connect children with watershed learning opportunities, and critical environmental justice programs at the Environmental Protection Agency aimed at protecting communities from environmental harms caused by polluting industries.
In response, Jackie Ostfeld, Sierra Club Outdoors for All campaign director, released the following statement:
“This budget is yet another giveaway to big oil and corporate interests, and undermines his singular conservation achievement, the Great American Outdoors Act. Defunding the LWCF breaks a promise to the American people by eliminating a conservation tool that has been in place for more than fifty years. This short-sighted budget will harm the communities and rural economies that depend on the public lands that LWCF supports. This is a mistake, and one we hope Congress quickly makes right.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.