Grand Canyon Park Services Ranger Jill Staurowsky seems out from the South Rim whereas giving a tour to guests on February 22, 2025 in Grand Canyon, Ariz.
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The Trump administration has eliminated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from subsequent 12 months’s calendar of entrance fee-free days for nationwide parks and added President Trump’s birthday to the listing, based on the National Park Service, because the administration continues to push again towards a reckoning of the nation’s racist historical past on federal lands.
In addition to Trump’s birthday — which coincides with Flag Day (June 14) — the up to date calendar of fee-free dates contains the a hundred and tenth anniversary of the NPS (August 25), Constitution Day (September 17) and President Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday (October 27). The modifications will take impact beginning January 1.
Non-U.S. residents will nonetheless be required to pay entrance charges on these dates underneath the brand new “America-first pricing” coverage. At 11 of among the nation’s hottest nationwide parks, worldwide guests might be charged an additional $100, on high of the usual entrance price, and the annual move for non-residents will go as much as $250. The annual move for residents might be $80.
The transfer follows a July government order from the White House that referred to as to extend charges utilized to non-American guests to nationwide parks and grant residents and residents “preferential remedy with respect to any remaining leisure entry guidelines, together with allowing or lottery guidelines.”
The Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, referred to as the brand new fee-exempted dates “patriotic fee-free days,” in an announcement that lauded the modifications as “Trump’s dedication to creating nationwide parks extra accessible, extra inexpensive and extra environment friendly for the American individuals.”
The Interior Department didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for remark.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum mentioned in a assertion: “These insurance policies be sure that U.S. taxpayers, who already assist the National Park System, proceed to get pleasure from inexpensive entry, whereas worldwide guests contribute their justifiable share to sustaining and enhancing our parks for future generations.”
The new calendar follows the Trump administration’s earlier strikes to reshape U.S. historical past by asking patrons of nationwide parks to flag any indicators at websites deemed to solid a adverse mild on previous or residing Americans.
