Americans are finally about to see foreign tourists pay their fair share at our national parks, while Washington’s endless obsession with diversity quotas and bureaucratic bloat gets a long-overdue reality check—yet the usual crowd is already shrieking about “fairness” and “inclusion.”
At a Glance
- President Trump signed an executive order on July 3, 2025, raising entrance fees for foreign visitors to U.S. national parks and revoking Obama-era diversity mandates.
- The order is projected to generate over $90 million annually, earmarked for park maintenance and infrastructure, while prioritizing Americans in park reservations.
- Roughly 1,000 National Park Service (NPS) employees were laid off earlier this year as part of broader cost-cutting and “efficiency” measures.
- Advocacy groups and some Democrats decry the move as exclusionary and risky for park operations, while supporters call it common sense and long overdue.
Trump’s Executive Order: Prioritizing Americans and Ending Free Rides
President Donald Trump put pen to paper on July 3 and, in one stroke, told the world what most Americans have been thinking for years: if you want to enjoy the splendor of Yellowstone or Yosemite, and you aren’t chipping in to fund it through U.S. taxes, get ready to pay up. The new executive order, titled “Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks,” will hike fees for foreign tourists visiting U.S. parks, while making clear that Americans—who already foot the bill—shouldn’t be squeezed out by reservation systems favoring international travel agents or “equity” quotas. Americans will now get priority in park permitting and bookings, a system that actually rewards citizens for their investment in our public lands for a change.
The move isn’t just about raising cash, though that’s a big part of it. According to the Interior Department, the surcharge will generate at least $90 million a year, a badly needed boost after years of deferred maintenance and federal funding shortfalls. The money will fund crumbling trails, leaky roofs, and busted restrooms—problems that Washington politicians loved to ignore while spending your tax dollars on anything but what matters. And for those hand-wringers who say the policy is unfair to international visitors, let’s be very clear: every other country on earth charges Americans more to visit their parks. Finally, someone’s leveling the playing field for American taxpayers.
DEI Mandates Scrapped: Bureaucracy Out, Efficiency In
This executive order isn’t just about money. It also takes dead aim at the bureaucratic nonsense that’s come to define the federal government, especially under the last few administrations. With the stroke of a pen, Trump revoked the 2017 Obama-era directive that forced the Park Service to chase after “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) metrics—meaning park jobs and contracts will now go to the most qualified, not the most “diverse” on paper. This realignment reflects a broader push to end DEI mandates across federal agencies, a move that’s got left-wing advocacy groups foaming at the mouth but has most Americans breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s a return to merit and efficiency—an approach sorely lacking in recent years. The Department of Government Efficiency (yes, that’s a real thing now) has already slashed the NPS’s bloated ranks, laying off about 1,000 employees in February 2025. Critics claim this guts essential services, but supporters counter that it’s a necessary correction after years of runaway hiring, mission creep, and bloated “equity” offices. The goal is to ensure taxpayer dollars go where they’re needed—fixing actual parks and serving actual park-goers—not funding bureaucrats whose main contribution is filling out forms and ticking off boxes.
Reactions: Common Sense or “Exclusionary”? The Debate Intensifies
Unsurprisingly, the usual suspects—environmental advocacy groups, some Democrats, and the legacy media—are howling about the supposed risks to “inclusion” and “international goodwill.” The National Parks Conservation Association warns that layoffs and budget cuts put park safety and visitor experience at risk, pointing to a 24% loss in permanent staff since 2017. Others fret that higher fees could scare off foreign tourists and hurt gateway communities that rely on their dollars. But let’s get real: American families have been paying the bills for decades, only to see their access squeezed by an obsession with “global equity.” This new order puts Americans first—something that used to be called common sense.
Supporters say the policy simply brings America in line with global standards. Want to visit Machu Picchu or Kruger National Park? Foreigners pay double or triple what locals pay. The fearmongering about lost tourism dollars ignores the reality that a better-maintained, safer park system will be more attractive to all visitors in the long run. And as for the DEI rollback, even some former park rangers quietly admit that chasing quotas did little for conservation or service, and much for bloating the bureaucracy.
What remains to be seen is how Congress will respond. Lawmakers control the purse strings, and some are already hinting at legislative pushback. But for now, the message is unmistakable: Americans come first, and the days of foreign freeloaders and bureaucratic box-checkers are over—at least in our national parks.
