The Trump administration is diverting at least $90 million from entry fees to national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite to D.C. to fund a $1.6 million fireworks display — more than five times as much as what is usually spent on the Fourth of July pyrotechnics display — and $76 million to repair fountains including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to internal agency documents reviewed by The Washington Post.
The National Park Service documents reveal the extent of the administration’s increasing spending on high-priority D.C. projects, including efforts to prepare Washington for the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
That money is being spent in Washington at the expense of the rest of the nation’s park system, advocates say, which has a $24 billion backlog of badly needed infrastructure repairs and improvements, known as “deferred maintenance.”
“That is not how it was designed to work,” said Ed Stierli, a senior director overseeing the Mid-Atlantic region for the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. “It shouldn’t just be all at one park at the expense of the entire national park system.”
Stierli said he is concerned the administration is doing construction work in D.C. with no public input or transparency, and without demonstrating that it sought multiple bids on contracts to carry out the work.
Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, said in an email that the administration is looking into other funding mechanisms to pay for deferred maintenance, including “revenue brought in from the sale of park passes” and “endowment funds.”
“While other administrations have let the city fall into decay, President Trump has made Washington, D.C. Safe and Beautiful again and we should all be grateful,” Martin said, adding that the administration has been working on deferred maintenance projects throughout the country.
“The way all of these contracts were awarded have been above board,” she added.
A visitor walks through a gate of the Roosevelt Arch outside the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park on May 19 in Gardiner, Montana. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that the administration’s actions mean that visitors and residents can enjoy long-neglected parks and fountains for the first time in decades.
“Thanks to President Trump, more than 20 fountains and nearly 30 statues have been restored while many ongoing projects are projected to be completed in time for the historic 250th celebrations,” Rogers said.
The New York Times previously reported on a portion of the national park entry fee funds being spent on D.C. projects.
More than 100 national parks, about a quarter of the country’s park units, collect entry fees under the 2004 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. While most of that money is used to pay for operations and maintenance of the park that collected it, at least 20 percent goes to a general fund that can go to expenses across the park system.
As of late May, the Park Service had approved about $105 million of fee money for fiscal year 2026 to be spent on the National Capital Region, which covers park units in the wider D.C. region, with only about $27 million approved for all other purposes, internal documents show.
Internal agency documents also show that the White House appears to be moving forward with its plans to build a helipad for the new generation of Marine One helicopters. A line item identifies a “landing pad” overseen by the White House military office, which would be paid for with $5 million in “donations.”
President Donald Trump is planning to build a pad for the helicopters on the South Lawn, The Post reported last month, given that the vehicles run the risk of burning the lawn. The White House has not previously confirmed the plan or commented on how the project would be paid for.
One line item lists $300 million also funded by donations for “East Wing Modernization,” the White House’s name for its project that involved tearing down the 12,000-square-foot East Wing last year and replacing it with a 90,000-square-foot addition. That would include Trump’s planned White House ballroom.
Trump has described the project as costing between $300 million and $400 million, with the final expenditure to be determined by the quality of the finishes and other decisions.
Work continues on a structure for a planned UFC fight on the South Lawn of the White House. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Other spending on fountains, funded by park fees, includes more than $13 million on Lafayette Square Fountain in front of the White House, $5.7 million on the Simón Bolívar Memorial fountain in front of the Interior Department and $47 million on other unnamed fountains on the National Mall.
The database also shows that $689,232 was allocated to repairing “West Colonnade Walkway,” covered by Park Service repair and rehabilitation funds. The line item appears to be referring to a broader Trump-driven project to redo the walkway outside the West Wing, which Trump was pushing to finish before King Charles III’s visit to the White House in late April.
Trump and the White House have previously not detailed how much that renovation project cost. “I paid for it, so, you know, it’s very expensive,” Trump told reporters in April.
The Park Service is also spending an estimated $716,000 from park entry fees to relocate and build a base for the statue of Caesar Rodney, a Founding Father who enslaved hundreds of people, to Washington’s Freedom Plaza.
The National Park Service documents reveal the extent of the administration’s increasing spending on high-priority D.C. projects, including efforts to prepare Washington for the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
That money is being spent in Washington at the expense of the rest of the nation’s park system, advocates say, which has a $24 billion backlog of badly needed infrastructure repairs and improvements, known as “deferred maintenance.”
“That is not how it was designed to work,” said Ed Stierli, a senior director overseeing the Mid-Atlantic region for the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group. “It shouldn’t just be all at one park at the expense of the entire national park system.”
Stierli said he is concerned the administration is doing construction work in D.C. with no public input or transparency, and without demonstrating that it sought multiple bids on contracts to carry out the work.
Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, said in an email that the administration is looking into other funding mechanisms to pay for deferred maintenance, including “revenue brought in from the sale of park passes” and “endowment funds.”
“While other administrations have let the city fall into decay, President Trump has made Washington, D.C. Safe and Beautiful again and we should all be grateful,” Martin said, adding that the administration has been working on deferred maintenance projects throughout the country.
“The way all of these contracts were awarded have been above board,” she added.
A visitor walks through a gate of the Roosevelt Arch outside the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park on May 19 in Gardiner, Montana. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement that the administration’s actions mean that visitors and residents can enjoy long-neglected parks and fountains for the first time in decades.
“Thanks to President Trump, more than 20 fountains and nearly 30 statues have been restored while many ongoing projects are projected to be completed in time for the historic 250th celebrations,” Rogers said.
The New York Times previously reported on a portion of the national park entry fee funds being spent on D.C. projects.
More than 100 national parks, about a quarter of the country’s park units, collect entry fees under the 2004 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. While most of that money is used to pay for operations and maintenance of the park that collected it, at least 20 percent goes to a general fund that can go to expenses across the park system.
As of late May, the Park Service had approved about $105 million of fee money for fiscal year 2026 to be spent on the National Capital Region, which covers park units in the wider D.C. region, with only about $27 million approved for all other purposes, internal documents show.
Internal agency documents also show that the White House appears to be moving forward with its plans to build a helipad for the new generation of Marine One helicopters. A line item identifies a “landing pad” overseen by the White House military office, which would be paid for with $5 million in “donations.”
President Donald Trump is planning to build a pad for the helicopters on the South Lawn, The Post reported last month, given that the vehicles run the risk of burning the lawn. The White House has not previously confirmed the plan or commented on how the project would be paid for.
One line item lists $300 million also funded by donations for “East Wing Modernization,” the White House’s name for its project that involved tearing down the 12,000-square-foot East Wing last year and replacing it with a 90,000-square-foot addition. That would include Trump’s planned White House ballroom.
Trump has described the project as costing between $300 million and $400 million, with the final expenditure to be determined by the quality of the finishes and other decisions.
Work continues on a structure for a planned UFC fight on the South Lawn of the White House. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Other spending on fountains, funded by park fees, includes more than $13 million on Lafayette Square Fountain in front of the White House, $5.7 million on the Simón Bolívar Memorial fountain in front of the Interior Department and $47 million on other unnamed fountains on the National Mall.
The database also shows that $689,232 was allocated to repairing “West Colonnade Walkway,” covered by Park Service repair and rehabilitation funds. The line item appears to be referring to a broader Trump-driven project to redo the walkway outside the West Wing, which Trump was pushing to finish before King Charles III’s visit to the White House in late April.
Trump and the White House have previously not detailed how much that renovation project cost. “I paid for it, so, you know, it’s very expensive,” Trump told reporters in April.
The Park Service is also spending an estimated $716,000 from park entry fees to relocate and build a base for the statue of Caesar Rodney, a Founding Father who enslaved hundreds of people, to Washington’s Freedom Plaza.
