Trump administration freezes National Park money for Valley Forge forest management
Funds were earmarked to help eliminate invasive plant species in the park's forests.
The Trump administration has frozen money needed to help sustain the forests of Valley Forge National Historical Park, according to a nonprofit in charge of the work.
The Santa Fe-based Forest Stewards Guild, which helps promote forest management and other conservation functions throughout the country, entered into an agreement with the U.S. National Park Service last year to allow for work on 32 acres of the park’s forests this spring, said Matt Piccarello, a forestry expert and the deputy director of the guild.
On Feb. 14, before the guild was able to sign an approximately $144,000 contract with a Bethel tree company to do the job, the Trump administration froze the money based on recommendations by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, said Piccarello who allowed The Inquirer to review the contract.
Also on that day, millions of dollars for other federal work were frozen, while thousands of federal employees were fired.
“When we logged into the Department of Interior’s portal earlier this month, the money just wasn’t there,” Piccarello said. “And we have millions of dollars in agreements with the National Park Service to pay work crews for work in forests up and down the East Coast this year.”
Along with Valley Forge, the guild was scheduled to do tree-related work at Gettysburg National Military Park and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Bushkill, Pike County, in the near future.
Piccarello added that the work at Valley Forge and other sites was to be paid with funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Act, created by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“These are laws passed by Congress, and we have agreements with the National Park Service,” Piccarello said. “We have every expectation we’ll be able to use those funds.”
The Trump administration did not comment on the frozen funds.
At Valley Forge, crews were to work on removing invasive plant species from the area, Piccarello said. These include grasses that inhibit the natural growth of seeds that fall from trees and grow new ones, he said.
“Invasive species threaten to take away the future of forests,” Piccarello added.
The administration has fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees who maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and perform other functions.
During Presidents’ Day weekend, two probationary employees were terminated at Independence National Historical Park, already operating with at least 30 unfilled openings. Five were dismissed at Gettysburg and five at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, according to David Fitzpatrick, treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2058 and Secretary-Treasurer of AFGE Council 270.
For 30 years, the forest guild has engaged in “education, training, policy analysis, research, and advocacy to foster excellence in stewardship...and engage a broader community in the challenges of forest conservation and management,” according to its website.
Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.