Funding for Mexican wolf recovery work, and dozens of other Interior Department programs, could be frozen under an order from the Trump administration/USFWS file

Editor's note: This updates with a federal judge blocking the order from taking effect at 5 p.m ET Tuesday.

A wide array of Interior Department programs, from tribal assistance programs and climate resilience projects to cultural resources management and threatened and endangered species programming, could have had their funding frozen by order of the White House budget office if a federal judge's order is overturned.

"The use of federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve," wrote Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a memo ordering the freeze.

However, a federal judge in the District of Columbia late Tuesday afternoon temporarily blocked the order after a group filed a lawsuit claiming the order violated the First Amendment as well as the Administrative Procedures Act.

A template OMB had created to help agencies identify funding that is, or is not, "consistent with the President’s policies and requirements," lists dozens of Interior Department programs for review. The hold touches most, if not all, public lands user groups. Before the judge blocked the order, agencies were told to complete the task by February 10.

Among the affected programs:

• The National Park Service Centennial Challenge, a grant program started in time for the National Park Service's centennial in 2016 to leverage philanthropic dollars for park projects;
• Preservation grants for Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigan;
• Upper Colorado and San Juan River Basins Endangered Fish;
• Youth Conservation programs;
• A Colorado River System conservation pilot program;
• Funding for sport fish and wildlife restoration programs;
• Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation;
• Alaska subsistence management;
• Marine turtle conservation funding;
• Migratory Bird Conservsation;
• Invasive species programs;
• Candidate Species Conservation;
• Compensation for ranchers who lost livestock to wolves;
• Mexican wolf recovery;
• White-nose Syndrome response;
• Funding for Nicodemus National Historic Site in Kansas;
• Volcano Hazards Program research and monitoring;
• Historic Preservation grants;
• National Historic Landmark funding;
• American Battlefield Protection grants;
• National Trails System projects;
• Natural Resource Stewardship;
• Martin Luther King Junior National Historic Site Preservation District;
• Route 66 Corridor Preservation;
• National Wild and Scenic Rivers System;

Interior staff was working Tuesday to determine how best to comply with the request.

"The Department of the Interior is reviewing a number of actions to implement President Donald J. Trump's Executive Order," a department spokesperson told the Traveler when asked what programs were affected by the funding freeze.

National Park Service staff did not immediately respond to a request for what programs they knew were affected by the order.

At the National Parks Conservation Association, John Garder, senior director for budget and appropriations, said the freeze could have wide-ranging impacts.

"Communities throughout the country depend on the many valuable programs that operate with National Park Service assistance. Because of these small but mighty programs and grants, and others at related agencies, our complex and uniquely American heritage is better protected and interpreted, our water is cleaner and our recreational and heritage economies are bolstered," Garder said in an email. "Congress invested in them for a reason, and communities deserve to have that funding continue."

Joel Berger, a professor of conservation biology at Colorado State University whose work often is supported by grants, called the freeze "insidious."

"The short sightedness of our newly elected (and appointed) federal officials in DC are penalizing federal workers, land managers, and users of public lands (at least for now given the obvious uncertainties) by compromising heroic and dedicated efforts of people who wish to leave a healthier and more biodiversity-rich environment for our future citizens," said Berger in an email.