National parks and other protected areas around the world went from being understaffed to entirely neglected after the Trump administration abruptly froze foreign aid in January 2025. The announcement generated grim headlines from some of the world’s top news sites: “On the chopping block with USAID: Elephants, tigers, and reefs,” “Across the world, conservation projects reel after abrupt U.S. funding cuts,” and “Elephants and rhinos at increased risk of poaching due to Trump funding cuts,” to quote just a few.
For conservation biologists these stories were excruciating to read because we already knew that the survival of protected areas and the intensely persecuted…