Nationwide parks fee-free calendar drops MLK Day, Juneteenth and provides Trump’s birthday : NPR

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Brandon Bell/Getty Photographs The Trump administration has eliminated Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from subsequent yr's calendar of entrance fee-free days for nationwide parks and added President Trump's birthday to the checklist, in line with the Nationwide Park Service, because the administration continues to push again in opposition to a reckoning of the nation's racist historical past on federal lands.

Along with Trump's birthday — which coincides with Flag Day (June 14) — the up to date calendar of fee-free dates consists of the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the NPS (August 25), Structure Day (September 17) and President Teddy Roosevelt's birthday (October 27). The modifications will take impact beginning January 1.

Non-U.S. residents will nonetheless be required to pay entrance charges on these dates underneath the brand new "America-first pricing" coverage. At 11 of among the nation's hottest nationwide parks, worldwide guests can be charged an additional $100, on high of the usual entrance charge, and the annual move for non-residents will go as much as $250. The annual move for residents can be $80.

The transfer follows a July govt order from the White Home that known as to extend charges utilized to non-American guests to nationwide parks and grant residents and residents "preferential therapy with respect to any remaining leisure entry guidelines, together with allowing or lottery guidelines."

The Division of the Inside, which oversees NPS, known as the brand new fee-exempted dates "patriotic fee-free days," in an announcement that lauded the modifications as "Trump's dedication to creating nationwide parks extra accessible, extra inexpensive and extra environment friendly for the American folks."

The Inside Division didn't instantly reply to NPR's request for remark.

Secretary of the Inside Doug Burgum mentioned in an announcement: "These insurance policies be certain that U.S. taxpayers, who already help the Nationwide Park System, proceed to take pleasure in inexpensive entry, whereas worldwide guests contribute their fair proportion to sustaining and bettering our parks for future generations."

The brand new calendar follows the Trump administration's earlier strikes to reshape U.S. historical past by asking patrons of nationwide parks to flag any indicators at websites deemed to forged a damaging mild on previous or dwelling Individuals.