Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks

The order directs the Secretary of the Interior to develop a strategy to increase entrance and recreation-pass fees — including the America the Beautiful Pass — for nonresidents at national park units that currently charge such fees, and to use the resulting revenue to improve park infrastructure and visitor access consistent with existing law. It also directs the Secretary to work with the Secretary of Agriculture to improve services and affordability for U.S. residents, work with the Secretary of State to promote international tourism to underutilized parks, review the National Park Service's maintenance backlog, and fully implement the Great American Outdoors Act's Legacy Restoration Fund.

It further directs the Secretary to review all Interior Department rules on public use of national parks, rescind rules that unnecessarily restrict recreation, and grant preferential treatment to U.S. residents in any remaining permitting or lottery systems. The order also revokes a January 12, 2017 Presidential Memorandum on promoting diversity and inclusion in national parks, national forests, and other public lands. None of the fee changes or rule rescissions take effect through the order itself; all are contingent on future agency action consistent with applicable law.

Foreign visitors to national parks, who face higher entrance and pass fees under the strategy the Secretary will develop. U.S. residents visiting national parks, who are to receive improved affordability and preferential treatment in permitting and lottery programs. The National Park Service and partner agencies administering recreational lands.

Foreign tourists could pay higher fees to enter national parks once the Secretary finalizes a new fee strategy. U.S. residents stand to benefit from lower relative costs and preferred access in lottery and permit systems. The revenue generated is legally earmarked for park infrastructure improvements.

The Secretary of the Interior is the primary actor and must develop a fee strategy, review the maintenance backlog, and audit recreational access rules before any changes take effect. The Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of State have supporting roles on pass pricing and tourism promotion, respectively. No hard deadlines are set, so implementation pace depends on agency discretion. Increased fee revenues are legally directed to infrastructure under 16 U.S.C. 6807, which provides a spending constraint. The order's general-provisions clause limits enforceability and makes implementation subject to appropriations.