Some nature lovers have been suggesting ways to cover the glowering mug of President Donald Trump on the new annual pass for U.S. national parks, but if you wanted to do that, too, you better think again.
Updated guidelines from the U.S. Department of the Interior reportedly specify that applying stickers or other markings to the face of the credit card–sized pass could invalidate it, thus barring you from using the pass for park entry.
The newly revised “Void if Altered” rules come in the wake of some parkgoers’ publicly announced plans to cover Trump’s image on the pass after the National Park Service released the 2026 design for its $80 America the Beautiful annual pass for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The pass covers entry at U.S. national parks and other federal recreation areas for a full year.
In place of the usual photo showcasing America’s natural beauty, the 2026 version features images of George Washington and Trump.
An environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, quickly filed a lawsuit, arguing that the design violates a federal law requiring the pass to “bear the winning image from an annual photo contest depicting scenery or wildlife in a national park or forest.”
Despite that legal challenge, there’s no indication the Trumpian parks pass will be going away anytime soon.
So artists and others began selling stickers depicting nature scenes to affix over the Founding Father and the current president.
Though we applaud such crafty ingenuity, we have to warn you that using those coverings could make the pass worthless for park entry under the Department of the Interior’s newly issued guidelines.
Why is Trump banning stickers on national parks passes?
In an internal email obtained by SFGate, federal officials warn park service employees that “defacing the pass in any way, including writing on it or adding stickers or other coverings, is a form of altering the pass.”
That’s bad, the federal email claims, because “altering a pass can cover up important information and required security features necessary to prevent fraud.”
Up to now, the “Void if Altered” policy has applied mostly to the pass’s signature panel, according to SFGate. This is the first time stickers on the front of the card have been mentioned.
The federal email provided no assertion that the image of Trump’s face on the plastic pass contains any security features.
Under the policy, national park employees can “make a judgment call” on whether to accept an altered card, SFGate reports. Visitors could be asked to remove any stickers or, if the pass is deemed invalid, charged for a day pass to enter the park.
The park employee who leaked the email told the outlet that decorative stickers on passes have never been a problem before.
The same worker does worry, though, that the added pass policy will slow things down at park gates. Or slow things down further, that is. New, higher fees for international visitors at national parks already raise the potential for delays at entrances as rangers will need to verify somehow the nationalities of everybody passing through.
So it looks like getting into national parks this year will require some extra patience. If you get bored while waiting in line, don’t you dare doodle a mustache on you-know-who.
