What is it that you and your family most enjoy doing in your community in your free time? Hiking in a park? Fishing along the river? Story time at the local library? A stroll through the museums? All of these things, even “small” ones like local libraries and community theater groups, depend on and compete for federal government funds.

Your Hobbies: Playgrounds, Parks & Public Pools

You might be thinking about…

What If the Park Closed? What if the project to build the ballpark was abandoned half-way through?  What if National Parks don’t open this summer? Where will we go hiking? What if our park is turned into a quarry? What if the Fish and Wildlife Service takes forever to issue permits this year? What if community gathering places disappear? Will there be Shakespeare in the park this summer? My kid really likes classical music, could she go to a concert in town? I want to learn about the people who lived in this land before our town was incorporated. Can the town set up an exhibit about it? We want to bring this amazing performance troupe to our town’s summer festival, how can we afford it? What If the Library Wasn’t There? Where can mom learn to use a computer or how to claim her social security? Where can we take the kids on a rainy day? I like books by a certain author, where can I find more of them than at the store? We want to have a meeting with our group of local history buffs, where can we do that?

Will there be Shakespeare in the Park this Summer?

The National Endowment for the Arts supports both individual non-profit arts organizations and state arts agencies. These funds support a wide variety of arts events including exhibitions in public buildings and spaces, community theater and musical performances, with a special focus on bringing arts and cultural enrichment to underserved communities. But, the Trump administration wants to eliminate the NEA and has, for several months, been notifying grant winners that their grants are being terminated. In July, the Appropriations committee voted to decrease the NEA’s budget by 35%.

Federal support for the arts is being phased out—putting grants for local theaters, museums, arts programs, and cultural organizations at risk.

Where can my Mom learn to use a computer?

The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is the most important source of federal funds for public libraries all across the country. IMLS funds help pay for impactful library programming like life-long learning, computer skills training, and early childhood programs. Public libraries are cherished places for access to books, culture, learning and also safe and cool places within American towns. But, President Trump has proposed eliminating the IMLS in every year of every term that he has been in office and in March of 2025 he issued an executive order stating that the IMLS must “be reduced to minimum presence required by law”. 

The Trump administration tried to shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services by executive order in 2025. Twenty-one states sued, and the Justice Department eventually stopped defending the order. But by then, grants had been frozen, staff had been cut, and many libraries and museums were already feeling the effects.

The budget request for 2027 once again seeks to eliminate IMLS.

What if we just want to spend a day at the park and go fishing along the river?

Much of the federal financial support for parks comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The money in the fund doesn’t come from tax dollars. It comes from royalties that private companies pay the government in return for using public lands. It’s a pretty simple concept: when private companies extract oil, gas, or minerals from public land, they pay royalties to the federal government. A small share of the royalties is set aside to preserve land and build parks. You’re not paying for the park, a company that dug one park is paying for the purchase and maintenance of other parks. LWCF funds have helped build or improve more than 40,000 parks and recreation projects across the country—everything from ballfields and boat ramps to urban playgrounds and walking trails.

Congress permanently funded the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million a year in 2020 to protect parks, trails, and public lands. Now, the administration is seeking to divert more than one-third of that funding to building access roads and expanding timber harvesting instead.

Many Federal agencies, grants and programs support the arts, entertainment and outdoor recreation.  These include:

  • The Department of the Interior (DOI). DOI doesn’t only fund parks, conservation lands and cultural monuments, the DOI appropriations bill is also the funding source for arts and cultural programs in all 50 states. The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences are all funded through DOI appropriations.
  • The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). The LWCF is funded through the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). ONRR manages and disburses the lease revenues that the federal and state governments are paid by the private companies that have leased the rights to extract resources from public lands. ONRR is one of the federal government’s largest sources of non-tax revenue. 
  • The National Park Service (NPS).  NPS manages and maintains more than 85 million acres of national parks, monuments and recreational properties. 
  • The Fish and Wildlife Service (Fish & Wildlife). Fish and Wildlife manages and conserves the habitats of fish and wildlife for the enjoyment of the public. Their activities include habitat reconstruction, enforcement of the endangered species act, and funding the state Fish and Wildlife services that issue hunting and fishing licenses and monitor the health and population sizes of the fish and wildlife available.

Grant funds and appropriations from these agencies support access to recreation and enrichment in all 50 states including public libraries, urban parks, outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing, performance arts and more. They are all facing cuts, priority changes, staff shortages, and pressure to comply with administration policies.

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