The National Park Service is using at least $67 million worth of park entrance fees to help pay for beautification projects in Washington, D.C., ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, a new report from The New York Times found.
At the direction of President Donald Trump, the city has undergone expensive renovations ahead of summer travel to the nation’s capital for the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Nine of the city’s fountains are being repaired and restored, costing about $60 million, and the other $7 million will go toward the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Times found via a Park Service document.
Some have criticized the administration for spending money on projects that appear to be for cosmetic purposes instead of necessary repairs, but others are celebrating the anniversary as a chance to fix some things around the city.
For example, the National Park Service restored the 13-basin fountain at Meridian Hill Park, commonly known as Malcom X Park, restoring the water flow for the first time since 2019. The completion of the long-awaited project drew crowds to watch water flow in the once dirty and empty basins.
The use of the funds for these projects is legal under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, passed in 2004. At least 80% of the money collected from park entrance fees must stay at the park where it was collected. However, the remaining 20% can be used to improve sites that don’t collect fees.
The National Mall and other parks in Washington don’t collect fees and are managed by the National Park Service.
The Deseret News has reached out to the Interior Department for comment, but in a statement to the Times, spokesperson Katie Martin said the park service has focused on beautifying the district but also worked on “many deferred maintenance projects throughout the country.”
She said that the public should be grateful for Trump’s focus on the capital city.
The National Park Service spent nearly $75 million on contracts signed between December 2025 and March 2026. More than three-quarters of that went to fountain restoration and 90% went to D.C. projects. It’s a significant amount of money for projects in Washington, which accounted for 5% or less during Trump’s first term and former President Joe Biden’s term, the Times reported.
The report also detailed how the park service has deferred $23 million worth of maintenance projects in national parks across the country, including repairs to bathrooms, roads, visitors centers and more.
For example, in Utah, Zion National Park is seeking funding for a broken sewer system that failed in the early 2020s, the Times pointed out.
The Deseret News has reached out to the Utah Office of Tourism and Film for comment on the news.
The use of the funds and the millions of dollars worth of projects deferred does raise questions about whether Congress is properly funding the National Park Service.