SF Chronicle: What Trump’s executive order to gut the Presidio Trust means for the national park
By Tara Duggan and Nora Mishanec
The news of President Donald Trump’s executive order Wednesday night to eviscerate the Presidio Trust, the federal agency that runs the Presidio National Park, rang alarm bells about the fate of one of San Francisco’s most scenic and popular destinations. While the impact of the order is still unclear, it raised questions about the future of the park built on a former U.S. Army base at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The executive order calls for the functions of the Trust to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” and to reduce “associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” But because the Presidio Trust operates independently and has not received annual contributions from Congress since 2013, it’s unclear what that would mean and whether it is legal. The trust covers the park’s expenses mostly with rental income from businesses and the 3,000 residents who lease homes in the park, receiving $185 million in revenue, compared to $139 million in expenses, according to its 2025 annual operating budget.
“It is financially self supporting at this point. It’s not like they can withhold funding,” said Neal Desai, the Pacific region director at the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit that advocates for national parks.
When the Presidio Trust was established in 1996, the 1,500-acre national park was full of dilapidated military buildings and untended grounds. In the decades since, the agency has opened museums, hiking trails, hotels and restaurants, and made restorations to allow native species to return. The 7-acre lawn at the Main Post has become popular with locals for food trucks and picnics. The park had more than 7 million visitors a year as of 2021.
Tunnel Tops, a new area built over the highway overpass with sweeping views of the bay, cafes, and an enormous playground, opened in 2022. The nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy raised $98 million of the $118 million project, according to the Presidio Trust.
“What the Presidio Trust has done to provide a place for people to come, young and old, should be an example for other cities,” said Lisa Sandberg, a Marin County resident who was walking her 4-year-old labradoodle Bear at Tunnel Tops on Wednesday morning. She called the Presidio her “happy place.”
“I am absolutely outraged that (Trump) thinks he can do this — it’s another move to empower his dictatorship,” said Sandberg. She said she hoped Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi “can work her magic to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Desai pointed out that the executive order states its goal is to “promote American freedom” even while it attacks a park that honors veterans with its national cemetery and history as a military base.
“If this is supposed to be helping America, this is not the way,” he said.
Here’s what we know about the impact of the executive order.
Will services be reduced at the park?
Not at the moment, according to the Presidio Trust.
“The Presidio is a one-of-a-kind national park site, and all of its services and business will continue to operate as normal, welcoming visitors and serving all who live and work here,” spokesperson Lisa Petrie said in a statement.
Will the Presidio look different than usual?
There have been no known cuts to the staff who maintain the park’s historic buildings and landscaping, said Ryan Heron, a representative of the union of employees at the Presidio.
A lot of the staff “have been there since the establishment of the Trust,” said Heron. “They have spent their lives building this dilapidated old army post into a beautiful park.”
What does the Presidio Trust do?
Under the Presidio Trust Act, passed by Congress in 1996, the Presidio Trust is required to maintain and operate Presidio National Park, including its 600 historic buildings, and to be financially self-sustaining.
What is the relationship between the Presidio Trust and the National Park Service?
The Presidio Trust works in partnership with the National Park Service but manages operations in the 1,500-acre Presidio. The National Park Service runs the surrounding Golden Gate National Recreation Area, an 80,000-acre park that includes Crissy Field, Lands End and Fort Point, along with other locations in San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties.
Could Trump close the park?
No, according to Desai, who noted that the park was established by Congress and cannot be taken away by an executive order. Nonethless, he said, the executive order is concerning: “It’s still an attack on a national park.”
Could Trump replace members of the board of the Presidio Trust?
Yes. The six members of the board of trustees are appointed by the president, who could replace them like he did with the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Is the executive order legal?
Senator Alex Padilla, Pelosi and Petrie all said in statements that they are looking into the legality of the executive order.
What is the reaction to the executive order?
Democratic politicians in the city and state promised to fight the order, with many expressing outrage.
Padilla called the Presidio “one of our country’s most cherished spaces, and an outdoor resource for so many Bay Area families. Targeting the Presidio Trust, which is self-funded and serves as a model of a private-public partnership that saves the government money, demonstrates the clear incompetence of the Trump administration. This move against the Presidio is wrong, and I stand ready to fight this reckless executive order.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie said that the Presidio is a “a crown jewel of San Francisco and a national model for how public land can serve the public. The Presidio Trust has self-funded for more than a decade, and San Franciscans can rest assured the Presidio is not going anywhere.”
But Bill Jackson, the chair of the San Francisco Republican Party, reiterated that the executive order does not abolish the Presidio Trust: “Let’s give the Trust a few weeks to figure out the impact of the order, if any. This gem of a San Francisco institution is not going anywhere.”
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