Rocky Mountain National Park affected by Trump admin’s 2026 changes to National Park Service

DENVER — Entrance fee-free days at national parks will look a little different in 2026, with some holidays absent from the updated calendar.

President Donald Trump’s administration removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth as free entry days, while adding the president’s birthday (June 14), the anniversary of the National Parks Service (August 25), Constitution Day (September 17), and President Teddy Roosevelt’s birthday (October 27). The announcement follows a July executive order that increased fees applied for non-American visitors to national parks, while granting citizens and residents "preferential treatment.” 

In a recent press release, the Department of the Interior says “nonresidents will pay a higher rate to help support the care and maintenance of America’s parks.”

International travelers will also have to pay an additional $100 for park admittance to the country’s most popular parks, including Rocky Mountain National Park, the fifth-most visited park in the nation. 

Rocky Mountain National Park, only 90 minutes from Denver, welcomes about 6,000,000 visits a year. Estes Park sits directly outside the park and is directly impacted by tourism at the park. 

Sarah Leonard, CEO of the town’s tourism marketing organization, Visit Estes Park, said the community is aware of how this change may impact visitation levels. 

“Visit Estes Park is engaged with partner businesses and community leaders to assess potential impacts of the recently proposed non-resident fees for Rocky Mountain National Park on our region's economy,” Leonard said. “We understand the need for policies that support the park and the continued economic vitality of the Estes Park community."

According to a press release from the National Parks Service, the update is “the most significant modernization of national park access in decades.”

NPS declined Rocky Mountain PBS’s request for further comment, as did representatives from Rocky Mountain National Park. 

The increased fees and changes to free entry days are the latest example of Trump’s changes to the National Park Service. The administration made sweeping cuts to the NPS, which drew bipartisan pushback, and has removed signage and markers on federal lands that the administration said “disparage Americans.”

 

In March, the Department of the Interior was ordered to examine display material at hundreds of federal sites, many of which included information on the violence perpetrated against Native Americans and enslaved people.

In a statement regarding the removal of MLK Day and Juneteenth as free entry days, NAACP CEO and President Derrick Johnson said that the removal of the only free days tied to Black holidays is an attempt to diminish the visibility of holidays honoring Black resilience.

"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,” Johnson said. 

The annual parks pass for non-residents will go up to $250, while an annual pass for residents will be $80.

Colorado’s other four national parks — Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, and Canyonlands — are not affected by the new $100 charges for foreign visitors.