Placing President Donald Trump's face on the 2026 annual America the Beautiful Pass broke the law, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Center for Biological Diversity.
"In a single great image, it encapsulates what is so disturbing and bizarre about Trump’s view of presidential power: the disregard of law, the squashing of public involvement, and especially, the politicization of even the most mundane of government actions, and the constant refiguration of government programs into personal aggrandizement and marketing schemes," Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center, told the Traveler.
The controversial image, placed next to one of President George Washington, goes against a federal law passed in 2004 that requires that the main America the Beautiful Pass must feature the winning photo of the National Parks Foundation’s annual public lands photo contest, according to the Center.
For the 2026 pass, that photo was taken in Glacier National Park in Montana, the organization said.
"I work in fees and interp for NPS, and I am extremely upset about the politicization of our recreation passes," a Park Service employee told the Traveler in an email. "I am a civil servant, not the president's servant, and our national recreation areas are for all people, not just those who voted for one person."
The law in question cited by the Center is the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, 16 U.S.C. §§6801-6814 adopted in 2004.
“Blotting out the majesty of America’s national parks with a closeup of his own face is Trump’s crassest, most ego-driven action yet,” said Suckling in a separate release. “The national parks are treasured by Americans of every stripe. Their timeless power and magnificence rise above even the most bitter political differences to quietly bring all Americans together. It’s disgusting of Trump to politicize America’s most sacred refuge by pasting his face over the national parks in the same way he slaps his corporate name on buildings, restaurants, and golf courses. The national parks are not a personal branding opportunity. They’re the pride and joy of the American people."
The lawsuit (attached below), filed against the Interior and Agriculture departments as well as the National Park Service and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, claims that placing Trump's image on the pass "violated the statute’s requirements for public participation, along with its conservation, recreational, and educational purposes, by unlawfully turning the Annual America the Beautiful Pass into a partisan political platform for President Trump."
“America the Beautiful means wild rivers and majestic mountains, not a headshot of a bloated, fragile, attention-seeking ego," Suckling said. "There’s nothing beautiful about that.”
Interior officials did not immediate comment when asked for their reaction.
For a cost of $80 per year, the America the Beautiful Pass allows entry to every national park and special fee areas on national forests, wildlife refuges, and other federal lands.
In replacing the Glacier photo with the images of Washington and Trump the Interior Department boasted of using “new, modernized graphics for all annual passes, featuring bold, patriotic designs” based on “America First” values.
The Glacier National Park photo was illegally relegated to Trump’s newly created “Nonresident” pass, the Center maintains.
The lawsuit also notes that the photo of Trump was not taken on federal land and not "entered into the public contest." It also argues that the administration violated the law by "creating new 'Resident' and 'Nonresident' passes expressly prohibited by the law."
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