Interior Department cancels or downgrades Nevada park projects, putting at least $4.4 million in funding on hold

What happened

The Trump administration has blocked millions of dollars in federal money for projects in Nevada's national parks, Nevada Current reported. In August, the U.S. Department of the Interior canceled eight contracts for Nevada projects and moved four others to "low priority status," according to the Center for Western Priorities, a nonpartisan conservation group. Together, those actions put at least $4.4 million in previously secured funding on hold.

The agreements would have paid outside organizations to do specialized environmental and cultural resource work in Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Mojave Desert. The conservation group pulled the records from an internal National Park Service database and posted them on an interactive map with details on each project.

The national picture

Across the country, the administration blocked more than 130 agreements and downgraded roughly 1,500 projects, pulling nearly $26 million in funding, according to Nevada Current. The outlet reported that the affected projects had already been funded, mostly through congressional appropriations and existing federal programs.

Neither the Department of the Interior nor the National Park Service immediately responded to Nevada Current's requests for comment.

Who lost funding in Nevada

Great Basin Institute

The Great Basin Institute, a conservation nonprofit based in Reno, accounted for more than 70 of the blocked agreements nationwide, worth $12.7 million. In Nevada, the nonprofit held all but two of the canceled contracts, Nevada Current reported.

The next largest Nevada loss after the Desert Research Institute's was a roughly $345,000 Great Basin Institute project to gather long-term ecological data on wildlife, vegetation and hydrology in the Mojave Desert. The money would have paid for a bat specialist to run surveys and manage data, plus two ecological technicians to monitor vegetation and desert springs. Project managers said that without the funding, conservation work would stop and the health of desert ecosystems would be at risk.

Desert Research Institute

The Desert Research Institute took the largest single-project loss in the state and in the country, about $3.4 million. That money would have paid for mapping unapproved roads in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and surveying nearby buried cultural resources exposed by falling lake levels. According to Nevada Current, the survey would have helped measure damage from those roads and identify places where new approved roads could go without harming significant cultural resources.

Funding to run and maintain long-term weather stations that supply real-time climate data for Mojave Desert parks was also blocked. The institute said that without it, "real-time updates would be less accurate, putting staff, visitors, and surrounding communities at greater risk during extreme weather events," Nevada Current reported.

What it means at Lake Mead and beyond

Lake Mead safety projects downgraded

Several Lake Mead National Recreation Area projects were moved to low priority, including a flash flood warning system, safety lights and restroom maintenance. Nevada Current reported that flash floods during monsoon season remain a critical issue at the recreation area. The warning project would have covered yearly maintenance of the alarm system at Cottonwood Cove and Willow Beach, which detects incoming floods and plays a recorded message telling people to leave. Readers can find more on the lake in our Lake Mead and water coverage.

Great Basin National Park

Great Basin National Park also lost funding for a project to restore native trout habitat, according to Nevada Current. That project also covered ranger fishing programs, backcountry patrol and thinning to lower wildfire risk.

What to watch next

• Whether the Department of the Interior or the National Park Service responds to Nevada Current's requests for comment on the canceled and downgraded projects.
• The status of the four Nevada projects listed as "low priority," including flash flood warning maintenance at Cottonwood Cove and Willow Beach.
• Project-by-project details on the Center for Western Priorities interactive map built from National Park Service records.