By Phebe Bridges

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 19 that would effectively eliminate the Presidio Trust “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The Presidio Trust is the federal agency responsible for overseeing the Presidio of San Francisco National Park.

The executive order called for the commencement of “a reduction in the elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary.” The Trust was also ordered to produce and submit a report to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to analyze which elements of the agency are required by law. Should the report find sections of the agency that are not mandated, they will likely be eliminated.

According to its website, the mission of the Presidio Trust “is to steward and share the history, beauty, and wonder of the Presidio for everyone to enjoy forever. As a federal agency working in service to the public, we’re guided by a triple bottom line: Welcoming all people and protecting the planet, fueled by the performance of successful park businesses.

“The Presidio Trust is led by a board of directors and an executive team. Staff members represent many disciplines and include leasing specialists, ecologists, planners, utility and maintenance workers, IT professionals and more.”

The Presidio Trust released its OMB report to the general public on March 3. The report, which outlined the history and makeup of the Trust and the park, highlighted its financial self-sufficiency. According to the report, the park has not relied on government funding since 2013 and “has invested more than $750 million in private funds, and more than $350 million in earned income, into the Presidio.”

“The Presidio is a crown jewel of San Francisco and a national model for how public land can serve the public,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).

“The Presidio Trust has been self-funded for more than a decade, and San Franciscans can rest assured the Presidio is not going anywhere. We stand ready to support Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and our federal partners,” he continued.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff visited the Presidio on March 17, after the executive order was issued.

“(The park) is such a jewel, and we want to preserve this incredible Trust and make sure it continues to operate,” Schiff said in a video broadcast by Fox KTVU 2.

The park is not only for recreation but also serves a number of ecological efforts. John “Zip” Lehnus, a volunteer of 11 years for the Presidio Trust, spends some of his volunteer time tracking the species that make up the park’s ecosystem, including the native populations of Western Pond Turtles. The population of native turtles has suffered since the introduction of large-mouth bass to the pond.

“The reason we want to make (the park) a natural habitat is that means it’s able to withstand change and able to withstand threats,” Lehnus said. “That’s why I do this. That’s why I think it’s really important to take care of the native species and to spend time doing this sort of thing,”

On the potential cuts to the Trust, he said, “In order to bring all of this back to anything close to a natural state, it takes people, it takes husbandry, it takes shepherding. Someone has to come in and pull the weeds and get the invasive turtles out of the lake, who will breed in greater numbers and greater speed and out-compete the native species.”

While Lehnus is a volunteer, the Trust employs field biologists.

“(They) will actually go out and trap them and monitor them for health,” he said. “The Trust cleaned this lake out. They scraped sludge off of the lake. It’s a multi-year process to clean out carp and gars, and there was an alligator in at one point, but the lake was really unhealthy.”

The discussion around the necessity of the Presidio Trust has brought up a number of questions around the governmental ownership of the land at all. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has made a formal request to return the land that makes up the Presidio park to the tribe as a part of the “#LandBack” movement. As stated on the tribe’s website, should the land be returned, it would instead become “an official Indian reservation for the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.”

Following Trump’s order, the tribe’s chairwoman, Charlene Nijmeh, has also called for an investigation and interrogation into the finances of the park.

The Tribe alleges that the Trust does rely on taxpayer and federal funding, citing the Trust’s alleged debts and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $200 million to the Trust from the Department of the Interior. These claims are made despite the Presidio Trust’s OMB report, which alleges the park’s profitability and non-reliance on federal funding.

According to a statement released by the Tribe, Nijmeh has called for Trump and Elon Musk to launch an investigation into the “true financial position and contracting practices of the Presidio Trust and its ties to former Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.”

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe wrote, “We are hopeful that the land will be returned, and we’ve requested tribal consultation with the federal government pertaining to our Right of First Refusal on federal assets that are being disposed of,” in an email to the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon.

Regardless of the status of the funding, San Francisco community members are continuing to spend time in the park and support the community in the Presidio. Quinn Vernieri, an Outer Sunset resident, often travels to the Presidio while helping out at his parent’s dog walking business.

“I think (the executive order is) a little bit ludicrous in my opinion. I’m not really too political of a person, but I prefer to keep it running and in the shape it is now.

“(The park has been) a big part of history, and it’s been here for longer than San Francisco,” Vernieri said. “Parks play a really big part in the community. They can bring our communities together.”