This is just...beneath pathetic.
As reported by Chris Cameron and Maxine Joselow, writing for the New York Times:
The Trump administration will raise prices and add new fees next year for international tourists visiting national parks, the latest change amid steep cuts, understaffing and bureaucratic turmoil at the National Park Service and a significant decline in foreign tourism.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Interior Department, which manages federal land, said that, as of Jan. 1, it would more than triple the price of an annual park pass for nonresidents, from $80 to $250. Foreign tourists without an annual pass will also be charged $100 on top of the standard entrance fee to visit each of the 11 most popular national parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain and the Grand Canyon.
I guess the idea is just to kill the nature tourism industry altogether. In preparation for simply getting rid of the parks themselves, no doubt. Seriously, who would come here, knowing they were being deliberately singled out to be screwed?
But you can never have too many wretched golf courses, right?
Beyond an obligatory photo op prior to his first term, I seriously doubt Trump has ever spent a single minute (if that) in one of this nation’s national parks. Apparently that’s enough reason for he and his hired hatchet men running Project 2025 to ruin the whole experience for the rest of Americans.
As Cameron and Joselow note, they pretty much already have ruined it.
It is not clear what impact the price increases will have on visitation and revenue for the national parks. The parks have already lost millions of dollars this year because they lack the staff to operate entrances and collect visitor fees — including at some of the highly popular parks where the higher prices will apply.
And it does actually get worse. Now even U.S. residents will need to produce a “U.S.-government issue photo ID” in order to get an annual pass, or be asked to “upgrade” to a non-resident pass. As reported in USAToday:
To cut down on costs, visitors can buy an annual pass. Pricing for those will stay flat for U.S. residents at $80. Residents purchasing annual passes through Recreation.gov will be asked to enter their zip code online and to show a U.S.-government issued photo ID when using the pass. Individuals without such identification will be asked to upgrade to a nonresident annual pass, according to the Department of Interior, which noted that existing passes will continue to be honored until expiration.
Here’s the new pass design, and no, this is apparently not a joke.
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In addition, foreign visitors without an annual pass will be hit with a new $100 surcharge each time they visit one of the 11 most-visited parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, and the Grand Canyon, on top of the regular entrance fee.
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— Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 8:47 PM
So much for our “national” parks. Show us your ID or go on a list. Oh, and maybe next we’ll take a picture of you and your family while we’re at it. For our files and “databases.” This is your land, by the way.
It’s tragic that Americans put this man and the people backing him into a position to wreck whatever this country had to offer in terms of actual, lasting beauty or quality.
But they did. And future generations, and their children, will be paying the price, long after these people have been swept away.
Way to go, Trump voters. Way to go.
