Will A Lawsuit Scrap President Trump's Portrait From The New National Park Pass?

America the Beautiful Annual Pass 2026Image courtesy: Department of Interior via The Center for Biological DiversityDays after the Department of the Interior announced a sharp increase in national park entrance fees for international visitors and unveiled the 2026 America the Beautiful Pass, social media erupted.But the uproar was not about the price hike, but about the new design, which features the portraits of Former President George Washington and President Donald Trump, breaking with the past’s long-standing tradition of landscape and wildlife imagery.On December 10, The Center for Biological Diversity also filed a lawsuit to prevent President Donald Trump from replacing the photo of Glacier National Park, the winning photo of the National Parks Foundation’s annual public lands photo contest on the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass.Behind The Most Significant Price IncreaseThe Department of the Interior (DOI) has announced the most significant pricing change to America’s national park pass in U.S. history.The America the Beautiful Pass program, created under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act in 2004, launched on January 1, 2007, with a price of $80. MORE FOR YOUWhile the pass will remain $80 for U.S. residents in the upcoming year, non-U.S. residents will have to pay $250 as of January 1, 2026.Non-residents who skip the higher-priced pass will also face a new $100 per-person surcharge at 11 of the country’s most visited national parks, on top of standard entrance fees.While the July executive order did not set a specific surcharge amount, earlier analysis shows how dramatically revenue could scale. Using Yellowstone as an example, its 660,000 annual international visitors (if they keep coming) would generate about $66 million from a $100 surcharge, more than five times the Park’s total yearly entrance-fee revenue of $12.1 million.The announcement also noted that revenue generated from new fee policies will be invested directly back into the national parks, supporting upgrades to visitor facilities, essential maintenance and improved services nationwide. "While we agree that the National Park Service is certainly in dire need of more resources, that it should come at the cost of international visitation, a large economic driver for some of our national parks and the regional economies around them, is questionable," said Bill Wade, Executive Director of the Association of National Park Rangers, in an official statement.Wade cautioned that requiring park staff to check IDs to determine pricing would effectively turn them into customs agents and create new entry bottlenecks for visitors.A Commemorative Concept That Turned Controversial OvernightThe video accompanying the announcement also revealed a significant design change compared to previous years, featuring wildlife and scenic landscapes.America the Beautiful Annual PassesImage courtesy: Department of Interior via The Center for Biological DiversityThe new 2026 America the Beautiful Pass will feature portraits of George Washington and Donald Trump, while the non-resident pass will display the winning photo of Glacier National Park. Volunteer Pass will display a black-and-white photograph of Theodore Roosevelt, the Military Pass, a saluting Donald Trump and the Senior Pass, Independence Hall.Many people shared the new design on social media, but adventure photographer and travel writer, Alec Sills-Trausch’s post garnered the most comments.Under his post, the overall tone is mainly negative, ranging from angry to mocking. Sills-Trausch, along with many commenters, notes that anyone hoping to avoid the new design can simply purchase the current $80 pass in December 2025, which will remain valid through December 2026.Both the National Park Service and the Recreation.gov websites still display the current design featuring a roseate spoonbill in the Everglades National Park, Florida.But the physical card is not the only option. Travelers can also choose a fully digital version of the America the Beautiful Pass, although this option is limited. It is available only for the standard annual pass, not for the volunteer, senior, military or other specialty passes.Conservation Group Sues Over Controversial Image SwapOn December 10, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump from replacing the Glacier National Park image, the winning photo from the National Park Foundation’s annual public lands contest, on the America the Beautiful Annual Pass.2024 Share the Experience Grand Prize Winner: Glacier National ParkPhoto by Akshay Joshi via The Center for Biological DiversityThe organization, which represents more than 1.8 million members and online activists, said in its official statement that its lawsuit argues that the administration violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act by rejecting the contest-winning Glacier National Park photo and substituting it with the image of President Trump.Joseph Raetzer, attorney and legal content reviewer at LawDistrict, explained in an email interview that “The Center’s claim is strong because it argues a straightforward procedural violation: that the agency ignored mandatory statutory requirements and substituted a non-qualifying image and pass structure.” Raetzer also noted that courts tend to take process-based challenges seriously, focusing less on whether a design is appropriate and more on whether the agency followed the law. “If the judge agrees that the statute leaves no discretion on these points, the Center has a realistic chance of forcing the government to withdraw the current design and comply with the law’s explicit criteria,” Raetzer added.

Did The Troubled Year For National Parks Set The Stage For This Public Response?2025 has been a strained year for U.S. national parks. While the DOI intended the design to be commemorative, it arrived at a time when the national park system was already under pressure.A long-running staffing shortage deepened after a 1,000 probationary employees from the National Park Service and 3,400 from the U.S. Forest Service were fired on Valentine’s Day, and after a federal retirement offer put roughly 2,400 employees at risk of leaving before Easter.Later in the year, a federal shutdown hit the National Parks, leading to a funding freeze and economic fallout. Even after the government reopened, the shutdown left parks with depleted budgets, delayed maintenance, reduced staffing and other lingering effects.