Lawsuit Challenges Park Service Passes Featuring Trump

An environmental group is suing, saying federal law requires an image of public lands, not the president.The lawsuit alleges that a park pass featuring a photo of the president would violate the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004.Credit...Department of Interior, via Center for Biological DiversityDec. 10, 2025, 6:51 p.m. ETAn environmental group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the National Park Service’s plan to emblazon President Trump’s face on some annual passes to national parks starting Jan. 1.The suit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia by the Center for Biological Diversity, argued that it would violate federal law to put Mr. Trump’s visage on some of the passes, which have traditionally featured photos of scenic landscapes and wildlife.Representatives for the Park Service and its parent agency, the Interior Department, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In a video posted on the Interior Department’s website in recent weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that a design featuring Mr. Trump and President George Washington would be one of several “commemorative new designs for our park passes.”Mr. Burgum said that, starting Jan. 1, the design would appear on some “America the Beautiful” annual passes, which grant visitors yearlong access to national parks and other public lands. He said that people who volunteer for the federal government could buy a “volunteer pass” featuring a photo of President Theodore Roosevelt, while members of the military and their dependents could buy a “military pass” featuring a photo of Mr. Trump saluting troops.But according to the lawsuit, the changes would violate the 2004 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which requires the passes to display the winner of an annual photo competition held by the National Park Foundation, a nonprofit that helps raise private funds for the Park Service.A photo of Glacier National Park in Montana won the contest for the passes to be sold in 2026. In announcing the winning photo, the National Park Foundation wrote that the image captured “a breathtaking view” of “towering mountain peaks” rising above alpine waters.ImagePrevious America the Beautiful passes. Federal law requires that each year’s design must feature the winning photo from the National Park Foundation’s annual public lands photo contest.Credit...Department of Interior, via Center for Biological DiversityImageThe National Park Foundation’s annual public lands photo contest winner for 2026, Montana’s Glacier National Park, by Akshay Joshi.Credit...Akshay Joshi, via Center for Biological Diversity“Blotting out the majesty of America’s national parks with a close-up of his own face is Trump’s crassest, most ego-driven action yet,” Kierán Suckling, the executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, wrote in an email.“In a single great image, it encapsulates what is so disturbing and bizarre about Trump’s view of presidential power: the disregard of law, the squashing of public involvement, and especially, the politicization of even the most mundane of government actions,” he added.Akshay Joshi, who snapped the winning photo of Glacier National Park, could not immediately be reached for comment.In an announcement last month, the Interior Department also said that, starting Jan. 1, tourists from outside the United States would have to pay a $100 surcharge to visit the country’s most popular national parks. That is three to five times the typical entry fee for U.S. residents.Supporters say the new fees could generate hundreds of millions of dollars that could be used to repair deteriorating roads and buildings at parks across the country. Critics say the charges could prompt international visitors on a tight budget to skip the nation’s natural wonders, worsening what is already a decline in foreign tourism.In addition, the Interior Department said last month that it would cut Martin Luther King’s Birthday and Juneteenth, two holidays honoring Black history, from its list of free entrance days next year. Visitors will instead receive free entry on June 14, which is both Flag Day and Mr. Trump’s birthday.Maxine Joselow covers climate change and the environment for The Times from Washington.SKIP