Trump salary and other donations, fund Antietam battlefield restoration
Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke announced new efforts to help restore historic American battlefields on Wednesday, a venture that is being funded in part by President Trump's donated salary.
Zinke made the announcement at Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, a National Park Service protected area that commemorates the civil war-era Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Antietam was the site of the bloodiest one-day battle in U.S. history, with about 23,000 casualties.
The donation of Mr. Trump's salary was coupled with private matching funds as well as $7 million in grants for other historic battlefields in several states.
The donation will help restore the historic Newcomer House on the Antietam battlefield, and will underwrite the replacement of 5,000 linear feet of deteriorated rail fencing along the Hagerstown Turnpike where some of the most intense fighting of the battle occurred.
After Mr. Trump promised to forgo a presidential salary, which by law, he is mandated to be paid, White House press secretary Sean Spicer handed over an oversized check for over $78,000 -- representing the first few months' worth of Mr. Trump's salary -- to Zinke at an April press briefing as a donation of Mr. Trump's pay.
Environmental groups called the gesture a "sad consolation prize."
"If Donald Trump is actually interested in helping our parks, he should stop trying to slash their budgets to historically low levels. This publicity stunt is a sad consolation prize as Trump tries to stifle America's best idea," The Sierra Club said in a statement. "It's a distraction that falls far short of the $12 billion needed to address the current backlog of park maintenance and does nothing to offset the almost $2 billion Trump asked Congress to cut from the Department of the Interior in his budget. America's parks, and the people and economies they support, need real funding, not a giant fake check."
Following Mr. Trump's announcement to donate his first quarter's salary, an anonymous donor pledged $22,000 to bring the President's $78,333 donation to $100,000.
The Civil War Trust and the National Park Foundation, and Save Historic Antietam Foundation have also pledged funds bringing the total gift to $263,545.
The $7.2 million will preserve nearly 1,200 acres of battlefield land as part of the American Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants program. The grant projects are located at 19 battlefields threatened with damage or destruction by urban and suburban development in Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
"These lands were once the scenes of our nation's bloodiest conflicts," Zinke said in prepared remarks.
"Working with the state and local communities, historians, and advocates, we must preserve these battlefields for future generations of Americans to remember and understand the impact of sacrifices of those who fought on these hallowed grounds. This grant program, along with President Trump's donation will help ensure just that."
