LISA DESJARDINS: Finally tonight, from the towering peaks of Yosemite to the vast canyons of Zion, America's national parks have long been considered national treasures.

But federal funding cuts imposed by the Trump administration are leaving a mark on these iconic landscapes and the communities that surround them.

Ali Rogin is back with a report from New River Gorge national park and Preserve in West Virginia.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): In the pristine waters of West Virginia's New river, gorgeous.

MAN: Where the civilization ends and the food chain begins.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Rafters push off.

And with a few practice strokes.

WOMAN: Beautiful.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Another day of dizzying beauty on the water has begun.

New River Gorge has been a local treasure for generations, but was redesignated as a national park just four years ago.

The Arrowhead brand brought newfound national recognition and record numbers of visitors.

But being part of the park's system also means being included in its budget.

And this year, that could mean steep spending cuts, which locals fear will slow the gorge's momentum.

RICK JOHNSON, River Expeditions: The national park brand itself carries so much cachet.

I mean, do you know what a national river is?

ALI ROGIN: No.

RICK JOHNSON: Okay.

But you know what a national park is?

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Inside New River Gorge, Rick Johnson runs River Expeditions, a rafting resort that's been around since 1972.

He was part of the campaign to make the gorge a national park.

RICK JOHNSON: We've seen probably a 20 to 30 percent increase in visitorship in the area, which is what I had hoped for when we get a park here.

ALI ROGIN: And more visitors means more money spent in the surrounding communities.

In 2023, almost 2 million visitors to New River Gorge spent about $100 million in the surrounding towns, like here in Fayetteville.

NICHOLAS TANKERSLEY, Founder, Lost Appalachia Trading Co.: The national park definitely has put us on the map for sure.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Shop owner Nicholas Tankersley opened the lost Appalachia Trading Company the same year the Gorge got its new designation.

NICHOLAS TANKERSLEY: People are spending more time and finding their way into the towns around and into the shops.

So we've definitely seen an increase in foot traffic in the town of Fayetteville.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): That boost is welcome in West Virginia, which has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation.

For generations, the state's economy was built around taking coal from the mountains.

But now another industry is growing in harmony with the mountains themselves.

RICK JOHNSON: Tourism is the only thing we've ever had here, that the resource renews itself every day.

And the money stays here.

The coal industry is wonderful.

We need it, our nation needs it.

But the money doesn't stay here other than the wages.

But with tourism, the infrastructure is built by folks that live here.

And it stays here.

The money stays here.

It goes into local banks.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): But while the park's popularity got a boost, its budget did not.

That's not a new problem, nor is it unique to the Gorge.

In recent years, the National Park Service budget has hovered between 3 to $3.5 billion.

It's gone up slightly nearly every year, but barely keeps up with inflation, and in some years fails to do even that.

Now the Trump administration is proposing far deeper cuts, reducing overall funding by more than a billion dollars and cutting over a third of all full time workers.

And as the parks enter peak summer months, thousands of seasonal positions remain unfilled, too.

PHIL FRANCIS, Coalition to Protect America's National Parks: They should have been filled back in April, and here we are in July, and there's no sign that things are going to get better, only worse.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Phil Francis worked for the national park service for 40 years.

He now chairs the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, a group of current and former employees and volunteers.

He told us funding cuts are pushing national parks to the brink.

PHIL FRANCIS: The proposed cuts that have been presented to the Congress will have a significant adverse effect on the National Park Service's ability to meet its fundamental mission.

BOOG FERRELL, Executive Director, Friends of New River Gorge: 200 meters of trail is going to take about $8,000 in material.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Boog Ferrell shares those concerns.

He's the executive director of Friends of New River Gorge, a nonprofit organization focused on preservation and restoration.

He says the park has become an essential economic engine for Southern West Virginia.

ALI ROGIN: Is it good economics to be cutting the park's budget this much?

BOOG FERRELL: This park generates about $120 million in economic activity for this region, and this region really needs it.

Any way of undercutting that through lack of maintenance and creating a lesser experience when people visit really damages the future economic impact of the park.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): He told us the Gorge has about $100 million in maintenance projects they've put off due to cost.

That's about the same amount the Trump administration has budgeted for maintenance across the entire national park system.

BOOG FERRELL: You have a really scary dynamic going on where we have more and more people expecting more and experiencing more in the park, but less and less resources to deal with it.

So it's going to put more.

It's compounding the need for more nonprofit and outside help and volunteer help.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): But some of the sources of that outside help have also been gutted by the administration.

THEO FAUCHER, Former AmeriCorps Team Leader: It was really hit the road as soon as you can.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Theo Faucher led a team of 10 young adults from AmeriCorps on a trail cleanup assignment at New River Gorge this spring.

THEO FAUCHER: It was essentially 11 nominally free employees that they could turn loose and reasonably expect to handle themselves well and get the work done to a sufficient degree.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): But just over a week into the project, they were abruptly called off.

THEO FAUCHER: The gist of it was effective immediately.

You were all to return to our headquarters, which for the southern region was in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Seized all work operations.

Pull your team off the work site.

If possible, hit the road that night.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Faucher and his team were part of an AmeriCorps wide reduction in force cuts, he told us, that deprived the park of enthusiastic extra help.

THEO FAUCHER: You have a lot of young Americans who come from all walks of life and they're united by the common goal of helping out other Americans they never would have met otherwise.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): Boog Farrell wishes the AmeriCorps team had been allowed to finish the job.

BOOG FARRELL: They were supposed to repair about five miles of trails and plant hundreds of trees, and that was going to be setting us up for years.

And now that was aborted.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): And those improved trails aren't just about aesthetics, he said.

They also make a difference well outside the park's boundaries.

BOOG FARRELL: Protecting the park and building the economy, the recreation economy can help protect people that may never set foot in this park.

And so it's a bigger need than just keeping these trails nice for trail runners.

Right.

It is a part of this.

It's a linchpin of this economy.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): For Rick Johnson, that linchpin is critical to the future of this state.

RICK JOHNSON: The vast majority of our children leave here, and they only come back to visit or maybe when they retire.

We wanted to see something here that would provide jobs, that folks could stay here and make a living.

ALI ROGIN (voice-over): His hope is that a thriving new river gorge not only helps draw more visitors, but also a new generation that calls West Virginia home.

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Ali Rogin in West Virginia.