The Trump administration has changed which days Americans can visit national parks for free next year, removing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth and adding President Donald Trump’s birthday, which falls on Flag Day.
The Department of the Interior made the changes last month, designating those 2026 dates “resident-only patriotic fee-free days.” Other changes include adding the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday to the list, while removing the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act in August and National Public Lands Day in September.
In a press release announcing new prices for annual passes to the nation’s national parks for nonresidents, the Interior Department — led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — also released a list of fee-free dates for next year.
The dates for 2026 include President’s Day in February, Memorial Day in May, Flag Day/Trump’s birthday in June, Independence Day weekend in July, the 110th Birthday of the National Park Service in August, Constitution Day in September, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday in October and Veteran’s Day in November.
One of those dates — Veteran’s Day — has been a fee-free day before, according to a list of the 2025 fee-free dates and a list of the 2024 fee-free dates.
Another date that has been observed as a fee-free day in the past that wasn’t included on the 2026 list is the first day of National Park Week in April.
In a 2025 announcement regarding fee-free days, the National Parks Service website said that free admission would be offered to everyone, but a notice regarding upcoming changes for 2026 said that entrance fee-free days will “only apply to US citizens and residents.”
Representatives for the White House, the Interior Department and the National Park Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the changes.
The National Park Service earlier this year faced public criticism for removing content from its website about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, though the agency restored the content in April.
Those changes were made amid a broader campaign by the Trump administration this spring targeting what administration officials viewed as content related to DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion.
In another instance, pages describing the military service of Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier, were removed from the Defense Department’s website.
