Trump orders increased fees for international visitors at national parks

WASHINGTON D.C. – (KSEE/KGPE) – President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week that will require international visitors to pay an increased fee when visiting national parks.

The 2026 fiscal year interior budget for the National Park Service mentions that the proposed budget for next year is $2.1 billion.

In the budget, it mentions the Recreation Fee Program, which will establish a surcharge for what it says are foreign visitors. It states that this surcharge is estimated to generate more than $90 million to “keep national parks beautiful.”

When asking the National Park Service to clarify how the fee would be enforced, they referenced a tweet by the Secretary of the Department of the Interior, Doug Burgum.

In his post, Burgum says the adjustment of entrance fees for international visitors at national parks will secure affordable access for communities and “put American families first.” He also says the fees will ensure visitors from around the world contribute to preservation.

With two national parks in the Central Valley area, it is currently unknown how much the fee will increase at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks or Yosemite National Park. It is also unknown how the fee will be enforced.

But in Trump’s executive order, it states that Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior, “shall develop a strategy” to increase revenue and improve the recreational experience at the national parks. The order states that the entrance fees and recreation fees will be “appropriately increasing” for nonresidents in areas of the National Park system that charge entrance fees or recreation pass fees.

It states that the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall take the steps to increase the prices at which the America the Beautiful Pass, the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass and any site-specific agency or regional multi-entity passes are sold to nonresidents.

To read the full executive order, click here.