Dossier mode
The Parks Raid
The same investigation, restaged one beat at a time. Drive it with the arrow keys, space, or autoplay. Nothing is cut from the piece — long runs are split across frames. Read the full investigation or open the Looting the American Public hub.
The parks raid.
The money you pay to enter Yellowstone is supposed to stay in the parks. Instead it's funding the president's building projects in Washington — while the parks get grants blocked and budgets cut.
Interior blocked ~$25M for 130 park projects as against the 'public interest' — while park entrance fees that federal law says belong to the parks were routed to Trump's Washington projects.
All FACT, cited to WaPo, NYT, a review of NPS records, and Senate inquiries. Two figures kept distinct (≥$67M entrance fees vs ~$323M total to WH grounds); 'vanity projects' is the senators' phrase; the legality is the open question the inquiries are testing.
NYT documented ≥$67M of park entrance fees funding Trump's D.C. projects; a review of NPS records (Scott MacFarlane) put total Park Service money to White House-grounds projects at ~$323M this year. Different pots — we cite each, and don't merge them.
NYT (May 2026) / Common Dreams (MacFarlane)
Interior blocked ~$25M already lined up for about 130 national-park projects.
Per Washington Post reporting, Interior 'disapproved' roughly $25 million in planned agreements for some 130 park projects — including fire preparedness and sled-dog care — at parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, and Joshua Tree, calling the groups involved contrary to the 'best interests of the American people.' Already-approved money, pulled with little warning.
By law, park entrance-fee revenue is supposed to stay with the parks.
The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act directs that recreation fees the NPS collects (entrance fees, passes) be retained and reinvested in the parks that collect them — most staying at the collecting site. That baseline is what makes the diversion notable: this is money Congress designated for the parks.
Instead, at least $67M of entrance fees went to Trump's Washington projects (NYT).
A New York Times analysis (May 2026) found the NPS was using at least $67 million of park entrance fees to help fund Trump's beautification projects in Washington. The conservative, directly-documented entrance-fee figure — the one we lead with.
A broader review put total NPS money to White House-grounds projects at ~$323M this year.
Separately — a different, larger measure we keep distinct — journalist Scott MacFarlane's review of internal NPS records found roughly $323 million rerouted this year to White House-grounds projects, a steep jump from prior years. It covers a broader pot than entrance fees; we cite it as the higher reported total and don't merge it with the NYT figure.
Multiple senators opened formal inquiries demanding an accounting.
Sen. Adam Schiff led an inquiry into the redirection of NPS fee money to Trump's Washington projects; Sens. Hickenlooper and Bennet, with nine colleagues, launched a parallel one demanding transparency — questions centering in part on the botched National Mall Reflecting Pool renovation. Oversight to date has come from Democratic senators; the 'vanity projects' label is theirs.
The money has your name on the receipt.
This belongs in Looting the American Public because it isn't abstract budget money — it's the specific fee a family pays at the gate of Yellowstone or Joshua Tree, money Congress said comes back to the park, spent instead on the president's Washington projects while the park's own grants are blocked. It sits beside the shrinking of national monuments and the fire-sale leasing of public land: different mechanisms, one throughline — public resources redirected to private and political ends, and the public told it's for their own good.