Trump indicators government order calling for international vacationers to pay larger nationwide park charges
President Trump signed an government order Thursday calling on the nationwide park system to cost larger entry charges for international guests.
It instructs Inside Secretary Doug Burgum — who oversees the Nationwide Park Service — to “develop a technique” to hike entrance charges and recreation move charges for non-U.S. residents at any nationwide park that at the moment expenses for entry.
“To fund enhancements and enhanced experiences throughout the park system, I’ve simply signed an government order to boost entrance charges for international vacationers whereas conserving costs low for Individuals,” Mr. Trump stated in a Thursday night rally in Iowa. “The nationwide parks will probably be about America first.”
CBS Information has reached out to the Inside Division and the Nationwide Park Service relating to when the charge hike could take impact or how a lot the surcharge for nonresidents might value.
In its 2026 fiscal 12 months funds proposal launched in Might, the Inside Division estimated that such a surcharge would generate greater than $90 million yearly.
Not all nationwide parks cost an entrance charge, and for people who do, the charge varies. Usually, guests should buy both a typical day by day or weekly move to at least one particular park, or an annual move that can be utilized at one park or in a sure area of the nation. The Park Service additionally affords a extra complete “America the Stunning” move, which prices $80 and can be utilized in any respect nationwide parks nationwide.
A number of the Nationwide Park Service’s hottest websites — like Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon — cost entrance charges of $20 per individual or $35 per automobile.
Mr. Trump additionally ordered the Inside Division to provide U.S. residents “preferential therapy” over international guests relating to “leisure entry guidelines, together with allowing or lottery guidelines” that parks might need in place. The order didn’t element what these preferential therapy guidelines would entail, however some widespread nationwide parks have reservation methods for entry and tenting throughout peak seasons.
The order Thursday additionally revoked a memorandum signed in January 2017, on the tail finish of former President Barack Obama’s second time period, which sought to advertise range and inclusion at nationwide parks. The transfer gave the impression to be a part of the continued effort by the Trump administration to reduce the federal authorities’s range efforts.
The most recent strikes come because the Trump administration has sought to cut back the dimensions of the Nationwide Park Service’s employees. It laid off about 1,000 Park Service workers in February as a part of its push, led by the White Home’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, to enact large-scale personnel and budgetary cuts throughout the federal authorities.
In keeping with evaluation launched this week by the Nationwide Parks Conservation Affiliation, an impartial advocacy group, the Park Service has misplaced 24% of its everlasting employees since President Trump took workplace in January.
In its 2026 fiscal 12 months funds, the Inside Division additionally proposed chopping greater than $1 billion to the Park Service, which might be the biggest such funds lower within the company’s historical past.
And in a separate government order Thursday, the president additionally established the “Make America Stunning Once more” Fee, which will probably be tasked, amongst different issues, with “increasing entry to public lands and waters for recreation and incentivizing voluntary conservation efforts.”
The fee will probably be chaired by Burgum and made up of members of the Trump administration. The order itself was spearheaded by Benji Backer, founder and CEO of the group Nature Is Nonpartisan.
“It is an honor to steer this nonpartisan initiative with the White Home,” Backer stated in a press release Thursday. “Right this moment is a superb victory for the setting, however that is only the start.”
In a June 19 interview with CBS Information, Backer was essential of a language in early Senate variations of Mr. Trump’s “massive, stunning, invoice” that might have allowed hundreds of acres of public lands to be offered for housing and infrastructure growth.
That language was ultimately eliminated from the model of the invoice that handed the Home on Thursday and heads to the president’s desk for his signature.
“Simply because one thing is not a nationwide park or a nationwide wilderness space, does not imply that it would not need to be in public arms,” Backer advised CBS Information on the time. “Donald Trump’s legacy won’t be good on conservation if this goes by.”
Tracy J. Wholf and
Nancy Chen
contributed to this report.
