{"id":14024,"date":"2025-12-06T14:49:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T06:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14024"},"modified":"2025-12-06T14:49:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T06:49:28","slug":"national-parks-cut-free-entry-for-mlk-day-add-trumps-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=14024","title":{"rendered":"National parks cut free entry for MLK Day, add Trump’s birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2026, Americans will get free admission to national parks on President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s birthday but no longer on Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to the National Park Service website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, the National Park Service included these two federal holidays among its free-entry days for its 116 parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federally recognized in 2021 under the Biden Administration, Juneteenth<\/a> has been celebrated for more than a century and a half. The day commemorates the final end of slavery in Confederate states just after the end of the Civil War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NPS also added more free-admission days for next year \u2013 calling them “patriotic fee-free days” \u2013 such as Trump’s birthday on June 14, July 4th weekend and the 110th Birthday of NPS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of the Interior did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move is one of several for NPS under the executive order<\/a> designed to “allow more Americans to visit national parks<\/a>” and also cut back on DEI policies. Recently, NPS announced an “America-first” initiative that would charge an additional $100 per person onto foreign tourists without an annual pass to enter the 11 most-visited national parks starting Jan. 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vehicles line the Yosemite Valley floor near El Capitan at Yosemite National Park, California on October 26, 2025, amid the ongoing US government shutdown.\u00a9\u00a0FREDERIC J. BROWN, AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Starting next year, the free days will only apply to U.S. citizens and residents, according to the NPS website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These policies<\/a> ensure that U.S. taxpayers, who already support the National Park System<\/a>, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what travelers should know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which days are national parks free in 2026?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n