Trust for Public Land Statement on President’s Budget Proposal Undermining the Great American Outdoors Act
Washington, D.C. – The FY26 President’s Budget Request proposes a rollback of the landmark, bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act, jeopardizing full, dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
Dr. Carrie Besnette Hauser, President and CEO of Trust for Public Land, issued the following statement:
“This budget proposal breaks a promise to the American people. The Great American Outdoors Act was a bipartisan commitment to safeguard our shared lands for future generations. President Trump signed it in 2020, following more than two decades of cross-sector, cross-party work. Just five years later, the Administration is proposing to strip this very funding, which has anchored American conservation for over 50 years.
This is not what the American people want—nor what our economy needs. Trust for Public Land’s 2025 polling shows that 74% of voters oppose closing or selling public lands and support continued investment. In our 2025 report, Parks: The Great Unifiers, a plurality of Americans—including both Trump and Harris voters—said they wish they’d spent more time outdoors. Park visitation was nearly universal: 92% of Trump voters and 90% of Harris voters visited a park last year.
The economic stakes are just as clear: Public lands support more than five million jobs, and outdoor recreation contributes $1.2 trillion to our economy—surpassing mining or agriculture, including farming, oil and gas extraction, and timber.
LWCF investments are lifelines for rural communities and gateway economies. These are impacts that continue to grow, but only if these lands remain public.”
This proposal comes amid a historic wave of federal disinvestment in public lands—mass layoffs, funding cuts to agencies and communities, park closures, and proposals that would compromise some of our most cherished shared landscapes.
It also targets a funding source that doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime. The Land and Water Conservation Fund is not funded by taxpayer dollars but through offshore oil and gas revenues—an intentional conservation offset made permanent in 2020.
From the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park to the wetlands of the Everglades, ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest and Tennessee greenways, LWCF has protected the places where Americans connect with nature and each other. This proposal jeopardizes public access—including hunting and angling—and decades of conservation progress. Trust for Public Land calls on Congress to reject this proposal, restore full LWCF funding, and safeguard the future of our parks, forests, wildlife areas, and waterways.
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About Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,504 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, and raised $110 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 10 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
