WASHINGTON, D.C. – Access to our National Parks have been free on certain days, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the US. Late last year, the Interior Department removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from the entrance fee-free days and added Flag Day, which is also President Donald Trump’s birthday, to the list of free days for US citizens to access national parks.
“This removal of Martin Luther King Day is chilling because it’s part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to shift and retell American history,” said Jackie Ostfeld, director of the Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign. The campaign encourages people to get outside and spend time in nature.
In addition to those entrance fee changes, the Interior Department also increased the price for non-US residents visiting national parks. Ostfeld explains the changes to the fee structure takes away more than just free access to the parks on those days.
“We have already seen the first acts of his Presidency was to rename Denali which is getting quite a backlash from the people of Alaska,” said Ostfeld. “And the administration has also set up reporting structures in national parks across the country asking park rangers, land stewards and even the visiting public to report any language they might see that might be what they consider to be disparaging to anyone living or past. It’s an effort by the administration to unearth history that is hard, that feels challenging to share and really it’s to whitewash history.”
In a statement released by Derrick Johnson, the NAACP President and CEO, he said in part:
“Removing MLK Day and Juneteenth from the national parks calendar is more than petty politics — it’s an attack on the truth of this nation’s history. It’s an attempt to erase the legacy of Dr. King, minimize the story of emancipation, and sideline the communities that have fought for generations to make America live up to its promise. We will not stand by while this Administration tries to turn public spaces into instruments of division.”
Ostfeld said the admission changes to the parks will not deter them from their mission:
“The Sierra Club is advocating for the full funding for our parks, advocating for our park rangers; we’re advocating for our truth telling our public lands, our national parks,” said Ostfeld. “Its one of the ways, a very big ways in how we tell this uniquely, rich, diverse, good bad and ugly history of America and how we celebrate leaders like Martin Luther King who have been, in his words, the moral arch of the universe bends towards justice and that is his legacy.”
We reached out to the Interior Department for an interview but did not get a response back.
