Reporting revealed Interior Department disapproved 130+ national park funding agreements over recipients' alignment with administration priorities

On September 11, 2026, reporting revealed that the U.S. Department of the Interior had disapproved more than 130 previously secured national park partnership funding agreements, worth at least $25 million, that were already funded through congressional appropriations or existing federal programs but were awaiting final Interior sign-off before the money could be released. Joshua Tree National Park was hit hardest, with at least 10 rejected agreements including wildfire-prevention and hantavirus-mitigation work; other blocked projects included removing trees from prehistoric Native American burial mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, an endangered San Francisco garter snake breeding program at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and sled-dog care staffing at Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

Interior Department spokesperson Aubrie Spady said the agency had "disapproved a number of partnership agreements with groups actively working against the best interests of the American people and the priorities of this administration," but did not specify which policies the affected organizations had violated. The nonprofit Great Basin Institute, a conservation organization, absorbed the largest share of the cuts -- more than 70 rejected agreements worth over $12.7 million -- and its chief executive said Interior never directly contacted the organization about the decision, adding that the group's standards "remain staunchly nonpartisan through six presidential administrations."

The exact date or dates on which Interior disapproved the agreements were not established by reporting, described only as having occurred "last month" (August 2026), ahead of the federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026.