70+ House Democrats Demand NPS Address Multimillion-Dollar Grant Backlog Delaying Trail Maintenance, Wildfire Prevention, and Critical Projects

70+ House Democrats Demand NPS Address Multimillion-Dollar Grant Backlog Delaying Trail Maintenance, Wildfire Prevention, and Critical Projects

Washington, D.C. - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) led 70 House Democrats in demanding that the National Park Service (NPS) immediately address its reported backlog of 1,400 grant approvals, which has delayed more than $360 million in funding for critical projects that keep national parks safe and accessible to the American public.

In a letter addressed to NPS Acting Director Jessica Bowron, the lawmakers warned that the grant approval bottleneck is delaying routine but essential work, including trail maintenance, wildfire mitigation, and other projects during peak visitation and wildfire risk season.

The Members pointed to a new grant process that requires two political appointees to manually review every grant and agreement over $50,000. Members stressed this review process has resulted in more than $360 million in delayed NPS funding. The Members also noted this process bears similarities to review processes that were rolled back at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after findings they violated federal court orders.

"These delays are unacceptable. Nonprofit programs to clear trails have been delayed at the critical start of peak visitation season, while prescribed burns and other wildfire control programs are at risk of the same fate during peak wildfire risk season," wrote the Members. "Choosing to make such grants contingent on review by unqualified political appointees puts the safety of the American people at risk, whether they choose to visit our national parks or simply live near them."

The letter is signed by Representatives Becca Balint (D-VT), Nanette Barragán (D-CA), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Julia Brownley (D-CA), Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Andre Carson (D-IN), Ed Case (D-HI), Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Herb Conaway (D-NJ), Jim Costa (D-CA), Angie Craig (D-MN), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), Laura Friedman (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (D-IL), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), Pablo Hernández (D-PR), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Julie Johnson (D-TX), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Stephen Lynch (D-MA), Seth Magaziner (D-RI), April McClain Delaney (D-MD), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Dave Min (D-CA), Kelly Morrison (D-MN), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Seth Moulton (D-MA), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Lateefah Simon (D-CA), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Mark Takano (D-CA), Mike Thompson (D-CA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jill Tokuda (D-HI), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Gabe Vasquez (D-NM), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), George Whitesides (D-CA).

Full text of the letter follows below, and a signed copy is available here.

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Dear Acting Director Bowron:

We write to request that National Park Service (NPS) immediately adjust its grant review process to address a reported 1,400 active grant approval backlog. According to public reports, NPS currently requires all grants and cooperative agreements valued at $50,000 or above to be manually reviewed by two political appointees. Those appointees serve at the department level and are not solely tasked with ensuring timely review of NPS grants and agreements, creating a severe bottleneck that has left more than $360 million in NPS funding behind schedule.

These delays are unacceptable. Nonprofit programs to clear trails have been delayed at the critical start of peak visitation season, while prescribed burns and other wildfire control programs are at risk of the same fate during peak wildfire risk season. Ensuring that those and similarly routine programs are funded during critical times of the year should be part of the regular operation of the National Park System. Choosing to make such grants contingent on review by unqualified political appointees puts the safety of the American people at risk, whether they choose to visit our national parks or simply live near them.

During the first Trump administration, the Government Accountability Office investigated DOI's grants review process that was also run through an unqualified political appointee. They found that the appointee, an old football friend of then-Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, centralized grants review for all bureaus at DOI. He "closely scrutinized applications focused on certain topics, such as endangered species and climate change, rather than considering the merit of individual grant applications or program policy factors, such as leveraging resources between similar programs." When he rejected grants, he kept his decisions off the books, hiding the truth from the American people and suggesting willful malfeasance.

The NPS decision bears striking similarities to other manual review processes that have been rolled back at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Last year, DHS instituted a manual grant review process that - similar to the reported NPS process - required additional review above a value threshold. That process delayed more than 1,000 FEMA contracts, grants, and disaster assistance awards. The delays came amid historic flooding in Texas and in the heart of the Atlantic hurricane season. After repeated findings that the process violated federal court orders, the DHS approval system was rolled back earlier this year.

We urge you to do the same at NPS, while also providing a full accounting of the current NPS grant and cooperative agreement backlog. It is a core responsibility of NPS to ensure that routine, lifesaving programs are funded on time and in full, while offering full transparency on the status of any delayed approvals. We request an update on NPS' plans for its grant review process, as well as a full list of all grants and cooperative agreements in the approval backlog, no later than July 28, 2026.

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