An environmental group wants President Donald Trump’s image removed from next year’s national park passes, and it’s suing to try to make that happen.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., by the Center for Biological Diversity, cited the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), saying the law, first enacted in 2004, requires the secretaries of the interior and agriculture to hold an annual photography contest to determine which photo appears on the Annual America the Beautiful Pass.
But on Nov. 25, the federal lawsuit said, the Interior Department announced that next year’s pass would bear an image of Trump instead of the winner of this year’s contest: an image of Glacier National Park in Montana.
“The official rules governing the contest require that ‘the photo must be taken on federal public lands or waters’ and any submissions that are ‘are highly controversial, inappropriate, indecent or obscene’ are disqualified. The rules allow disqualification of images that have been ‘noticeably and/or excessively altered,’” attorneys for the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in the federal lawsuit.
The winning photo of the National Park Foundation’s “Share the Experience” photo contest, by Akshay Joshi.Akshay Joshi / National Park Foundation
“The Interior Department’s bait-and-switch betrays the expectations of the thousands of people who participate in the contest and is directly at odds with the public participation mandates of the statute. It also undermines the stability of this well-established program and the conservation, recreational, and educational outcomes FLREA provides,” they added.
The group is asking a federal judge to declare the Trump administration in violation of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act and to prevent it from displaying an image of Trump on the new passes.
The Interior and Agriculture departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday night.
In a video on his department’s website, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum showcased the annual pass, as well as others, that will be available for 2026.
The suit comes after the Interior Department, which oversees the National Park Service, has made other changes to the operations of national parks to honor Trump.
Last month it added Trump’s birthday, June 14, which is also Flag Day, to a list of days when Americans can visit national parks for free in 2026. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were removed from the list.
Zoë Richards contributed.
