The Trump administration has modified which days People can go to nationwide parks totally free subsequent yr, eradicating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth and including President Donald Trump’s birthday, which falls on Flag Day.
The Division of the Inside made the modifications final month, designating these 2026 dates “resident-only patriotic fee-free days.” Different modifications embrace including the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday to the checklist, whereas eradicating the anniversary of the Nice American Outdoor Act in August and Nationwide Public Lands Day in September.
In a press launch asserting new costs for annual passes to the nation’s nationwide parks for nonresidents, the Inside Division — led by Inside Secretary Doug Burgum — additionally launched a listing of fee-free dates for subsequent yr.
The dates for 2026 embrace President’s Day in February, Memorial Day in Could, Flag Day/Trump’s birthday in June, Independence Day weekend in July, the one hundred and tenth Birthday of the Nationwide Park Service in August, Structure Day in September, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday in October and Veteran’s Day in November.
A kind of dates — Veteran’s Day — has been a fee-free day earlier than, in line with a listing of the 2025 fee-free dates and a listing of the 2024 fee-free dates.
One other date that has been noticed as a fee-free day previously that wasn’t included on the 2026 checklist is the primary day of Nationwide Park Week in April.
In a 2025 announcement concerning fee-free days, the Nationwide Parks Service web site mentioned that free admission can be supplied to everybody, however a discover concerning upcoming modifications for 2026 mentioned that entrance fee-free days will “solely apply to US residents and residents.”
Representatives for the White Home, the Inside Division and the Nationwide Park Service didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark in regards to the modifications.
The Nationwide Park Service earlier this yr confronted public criticism for eradicating content material from its web site about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, although the company restored the content material in April.
These modifications had been made amid a broader marketing campaign by the Trump administration this spring concentrating on what administration officers considered as content material associated to DEI, or variety, fairness and inclusion.
In one other occasion, pages describing the navy service of Jackie Robinson, who broke Main League Baseball’s shade barrier, had been faraway from the Protection Division’s web site.
