Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum just terminated 36 partnerships with organizations that were using taxpayer dollars to push DEI programs and political activism instead of managing public lands. That's not reform — that's a chainsaw.
These groups were getting paid with your money to lecture federal employees about "equity" and fund activism that had zero to do with national parks or natural resources.
The department reviewed approximately 2,000 active agreements before identifying the 36 that were funneling resources into leftist priorities. Among the organizations shown the door: the Hispanic Access Foundation, Conservation International, and The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The move saves taxpayers $4 million — which isn't a fortune in Washington terms, but it's $4 million that was being lit on fire for ideological nonsense, so we'll take it.
The Hispanic Access Foundation is a real piece of work. Their president and CEO, Maite Arce, publicly championed DACA recipients as "one of the most vulnerable communities" and pushed for illegal immigrant protections — all while cashing checks from the Department of the Interior. Because nothing says "public land management" like advocating for people who aren't supposed to be here.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation, meanwhile, launched something called "Landslide 2026: Erasing American History" — which sounds less like a conservation effort and more like a left-wing protest sign.
Principal deputy communications director Matthew Middleton made clear the department isn't abandoning partnerships entirely. "Interior will continue to invest in partnerships that expand access to public lands," he said. Translation: we'll work with groups that do the actual job, not groups that use National Park Service letterhead to run DEI seminars.
This is part of a much bigger picture. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has been running a similar operation, with reforms projected to save $300 million annually. The Trump administration isn't just trimming around the edges — they're going agency by agency, partnership by partnership, and ripping out the woke infrastructure that the Biden years embedded into every corner of the federal government.
Thirty-six organizations just got eviction notices from the swamp. Two thousand agreements reviewed. The ones doing real work get to stay. The ones running diversity workshops on the taxpayer dime? Pink slips.
We were told draining the swamp was impossible. Turns out you just need someone willing to actually look at the receipts.