Trump Administration Budgets $1.2 Million to Remove Trees at D.C. Golf Course
Records show $1.2 million set aside for tree removal
The Trump administration has budgeted $1.2 million to remove trees at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington, D.C., according to internal Park Service funding documents reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show the money comes from visitor fees collected at major national parks such as Yellowstone and Yosemite. A separate request seeks $500,000 for East Potomac tree removal in fiscal year 2026.
Park Service says it is restoring a 1920s links landscape
The National Park Service says the clearing implements a 2019 report on D.C. municipal golf courses, which found that successive waves of tree planting over the past century had obscured views and altered the course's original 1920s links-style character. Kevin Griess, superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, told the court the plan "isn't just about safety" but about "restoration of the park to its original historic state."
About 430 trees felled in a single day after Friday-night notice
On Oct. 10, Park Service crews removed about 430 healthy, non-invasive trees in a single day. Government lawyer Marissa Piropato acknowledged notice was filed shortly before 5 p.m. on the Friday of a three-day holiday weekend, with work starting the next morning, less than 15 hours later. The plan covered 529 trees in total, with about 99 more identified for removal; only a rain delay prevented hundreds more from coming down that weekend. In late August the administration had already removed about 150 dead, dying or invasive trees.
