The U.S. Department of the Interior has overhauled the schedule of free entrance days for national parks, removing two holidays commemorating civil rights milestones while adding a day that coincides with President Donald Trump's birthday. The changes, announced last month, apply to the 2025 calendar and restrict free access to U.S. citizens and residents only.
Shifts in the "Patriotic Fee-Free" Schedule
Under the new policy, dubbed "resident-only patriotic fee-free days," the free entry dates for 2025 will no longer include Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January or Juneteenth on June 19. Both days had been featured on the free admission list for at least the previous two years. In their place, the department has added June 14, which is both Flag Day and President Trump's birthday. Other new additions include the Fourth of July weekend and the birthday of former President Theodore Roosevelt.
The department also removed the birthday of the Bureau of Land Management from the free days list. Crucially, the free entry benefit is now reserved for U.S. citizens and residents. Non-residents will be required to pay standard entrance fees, with some parks imposing an extra charge of $100 per person aged 16 and over.
A Broader Agenda Against DEI Initiatives
These adjustments align with a wider Trump administration effort to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across federal agencies. The move was foreshadowed by an executive order issued in the summer, which revoked a 2017 memorandum from former President Barack Obama designed to promote DEI in the federal workforce.
President Trump has publicly criticized holidays like Juneteenth. On the holiday itself this year, he complained on his Truth Social platform about "too many non-working holidays," arguing they cost the country "BILLIONS OF DOLLARS" and must change to "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Removal of DEI-Related Retail Items
The policy shift extends beyond admission fees. According to an internal memo from the Department of the Interior obtained by USA Today, national parks have been instructed to remove gift shop items that support DEI initiatives. The department stated this is part of a "common-sense review" to ensure gift shops are "neutral spaces that serve all visitors," complying with Secretary's Order 3416.
That order aims to end what it labels "DEI programs and gender ideology extremism." A department spokesperson confirmed that any retail items found inconsistent with the order are being removed from sale, a process they claim is being done smoothly to avoid disrupting visitors.
The combined actions—altering the free entry calendar to exclude days honouring Black American history and purging DEI-related merchandise—signal a significant redirection of policy for America's national parks under the current administration's "patriotic" framework.
