National Park visitors who cover Donald Trump’s face on their park passes can be punished for it under new guidance that would force them to buy a whole new pass.
The move is reportedly part of an updated “Void if Altered” policy circulated to field staff in late December, after the Department of the Interior began rolling out 2026 America the Beautiful passes featuring a portrait of the 79-year-old president.
News of the Trumpy new passes immediately sparked a cottage industry of cover-up stickers. SFGATE reports that a Colorado ecologist and watercolor artist received more than 100 orders in two days for stickers designed to protest the new design of the passes, with proceeds sent to park-related nonprofits.
Now, an internal email sent to National Park Service staff warns that stickers and other coverings on the front of the pass can count as an alteration, broadening what had previously been limited to the signature section, according to SFGATE.
The new guidance tells employees to assess whether key security features remain visible, including a foil hologram and other anti-fraud markings. Staff can ask visitors to peel off the stickers. If that can’t be done and the pass can’t be verified, guidance says the visitor can be charged the standard entrance fee or told to buy a replacement pass.
Interior spokesperson Elizabeth Peace told the Daily Beast that the department already considers passes “void if altered,” and that the 2026 language was a clarification prompted by questions from staff and visitors.
But the employee who handed the emails to SFGATE said it was a completely new issue, suggesting the change was related to Trump.
“I’ve personally accepted passes that people put stickers on because they just like stickers and it’s never been a problem,” they said, adding, “If you buy a pass from REI, they have a little sticker on it that a lot of people don’t take off. We’ve accepted those and never had a problem.”
The employee also told the outlet that they worried the added rules could bog down entrance lines.
In November, Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, 69, unveiled the redesigned passes as part of what the department billed as a modernization of park access that also created new “Resident” and “Nonresident” annual passes starting Jan. 1, 2026.
Under the plan, U.S. residents pay $80, nonresidents pay $250, and nonresidents without an annual pass face a $100 per-person add-on fee at 11 of the most visited parks.
The clampdown comes as a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity argues federal law requires the annual pass image to come from a public contest photo, thus making Trump’s headshot illegal. The group’s challenge alleges that the administration sidelined a contest-winning image of Glacier National Park.
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