National Park Service emergency responders have been recruited to work on President Donald Trump’s beautification projects in Washington, D.C., including fountain renovations and repairs to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, according to a new report. Nearly 300 employees from the Park Service’s “incident management team” — which responds to wildfires and other emergencies — have been deployed to the capital, CNN reported, citing internal documents and agency workers. The employees reassigned to Washington, D.C., previously worked at parks across the country, including in Alaska and California.
Their duties have since included cleaning up the East Potomac golf course, according to CNN. The Trump administration pushed back on the CNN report with an Interior Department spokesperson telling The Independent that "NPS sets up incident management teams for all sorts of things, from major events to major projects" and that "people were not pulled from the front lines of wildfires." “President Donald J. Trump has done more to make our nation's capital a shining beacon than any other president in the history of this country,” a spokesperson told The Independent.
Park Police had the honor of being part of this effort to Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful.” Since returning to office, Trump has devoted significant resources to revitalizing Washington’s public spaces, including reviving defunct fountains, gilding statues and repairing the Reflecting Pool — a multimillion-dollar effort that has produced mixed results. The administration has also pursued grand projects like a massive ballroom at the White House, which the president says is critical for national security, and plans for a 250-foot victory arch along the Potomac River.
Incident management employees work across the country’s 63 national parks, responding to planned events such as Fourth of July fireworks displays as well as “unplanned emergencies,” including wildfires, floods, hurricanes and search-and-rescue operations, according to the Park Service. The team includes firefighters, radio operators and liaison officers. One Park Service employee described the deployment of nearly 300 team members to Washington for Trump’s “safe and beautiful” initiative — a federal effort to clean up and improve public spaces — as “crazy abnormal.” The staffer noted that only about 60 personnel were brought in for D.C.’s National Cherry Blossom Festival.
Incident management team members have also been tasked with preparing “highly detailed status reports” for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office, CNN reported. One employee said these “operational details” are typically overseen by less senior officials. Will it be on time?” The employee said the Parks Service is also operating with reduced resources because of staffing cuts spearheaded by former special government employee Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, as well as a hiring freeze.
The Park Service workforce has been cut by nearly 25 per cent since 2025 through terminations, early retirements and federal buyouts. Trump’s proposed 2027 budget would eliminate an additional 3,967 full-time positions, reducing staffing by 31 percent from 2025 levels. The Interior Department’s reliance on the incident management team in Washington appears likely to continue.
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