An article circulating online alleges that the Trump administration eliminated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the National Park Service’s 2026 entrance fee-free days while adding Donald Trump’s birthday and imposing higher charges on international visitors. Available reporting and official information do not substantiate these claims.
The original article made a series of specific assertions about changes to national park entrance fee policies and a 2026 fee-free calendar it attributed to the Trump administration. A review of the cited NPR reporting and other publicly available information does not support those claims.
First, there is no verifiable evidence that the National Park Service (NPS) has published a finalized list of fee-free days for 2026 that removes Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Juneteenth. The NPR source referenced in the article could not be accessed directly due to technical restrictions, and independent searches of official NPS announcements and other major news outlets do not confirm such a change.
Similarly, there is no corroborated record that the NPS or the Department of the Interior has added former President Donald Trump’s birthday on June 14 to any official list of fee-free days, or that it has rebranded a set of dates as “patriotic fee-free days” featuring Trump’s birthday, the National Park Service anniversary, Constitution Day, or Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday. While the NPS has historically designated a small number of fee-free days tied to events such as the agency’s founding or National Public Lands Day, no authoritative documentation confirms the specific configuration described in the disputed article.
The article also referenced a July executive order allegedly directing higher fees for non‑U.S. visitors, giving American citizens preferential access for permits and lotteries, and creating an “America‑first pricing” system. Under that policy, it claimed, international visitors would pay entrance fees even on fee‑free days, face an additional $100 surcharge at heavily visited parks, and be charged $250 for an annual pass, compared with $80 for U.S. residents.
Fact‑checking against public records does not turn up any executive order matching those details, nor any federal rule or NPS policy that imposes a separate nationality‑based pricing regime or fee‑free exemptions limited only to U.S. citizens and residents. Current park entrance fees and passes, including the America the Beautiful annual pass, are not structured on the basis of citizenship.
The article further attributed a quote to "Secretary Doug Burgum" of the Interior Department defending these alleged policy shifts as a way to ensure that U.S. taxpayers “continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share.” As of this writing, there is no official record of Doug Burgum serving as Secretary of the Interior, and no matching statement appears in Interior Department press releases or major news coverage.
Finally, the original piece claimed that the administration had undertaken broader efforts to “reframe historical narratives” at park sites and had asked visitors to report signage that “negatively portrays Americans.” No corroborating documentation, rulemaking, or large‑scale reporting from reputable outlets could be found to substantiate such a directive.
Based on the available evidence, the specific claims about a 2026 fee‑free calendar that drops Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, adds former President Trump’s birthday, introduces an “America‑first” fee structure targeting non‑U.S. visitors, and includes formal statements from a "Secretary Doug Burgum" of the Interior Department are not supported by verifiable sources. Readers should treat the original article as unsubstantiated and, in several respects, factually incorrect.