Trump fires board that oversees national park Presidio in San Francisco
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People sit in chairs overlooking the San Francisco Bay at the Presidio national park on Oct 25, 2024.
PHOTO: JIM WILSON/NYTIMES
Pooja Salhotra
SAN FRANCISCO - The Trump administration has terminated all six board members of the federal agency that oversees the Presidio, a beloved San Francisco national park that sits at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The board members, all of whom were appointed by then president Joe Biden, were fired on April 8, and new members have not been installed, Ms Lisa Petrie, a spokeswoman for the agency, the Presidio Trust, said in an e-mail on April 11.
“We have a long history of wonderful leaders serving the Presidio, and we look forward to welcoming and working with the new members,” Ms Petrie said.
In February 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling the Presidio Trust an “unnecessary governmental entity” that should be “dramatically” shrunk.
That order also targeted three other agencies – the Inter-American Foundation, the US African Development Foundation and the US Institute of Peace – that the administration has already taken steps to dismantle.
The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries about the firings and its plans to appoint new board members.
The Presidio, a 607ha former military base, includes hiking trails, museums, campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, housing and an 18-hole golf course.
Some 9.5 million people visit the site a year, according to a 2025 Presidio report, making it one of the country’s most visited national parks.
The trust is led by a board of directors, six of whom are appointed by the president. The US interior secretary chooses a seventh board member, but that seat has been vacant for years.
The six board members who were fired are Mr Mark W. Buell, Mr Charles M. Collins, Ms Lenore Eccles, Ms Patsy Ishiyama, Ms Bonnie LePard and Ms Nicola Miner.
The terms of three members were set to expire in May 2027, while those of the other three expired in May 2025.
The Presidio employs a staff of ecologists, building stewards, utility workers, tech professionals and others.
The National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, a non-profit group, also help to oversee the park.
The Presidio Trust was created through a 1996 law that charged the trust with rehabilitating and leasing the Army buildings that had been shuttered by the Department of Defence after the end of the Cold War. NYTIMES
