Advocacy Group: Selection of Trump’s Image on National Parks Pass Over Glacier Violates Federal Law
The Center for Biological Diversity this week sued the Interior Department for violating the a statutory public-participation requirement, alleging a contest-winning photograph of Glacier National Park should not have been replaced with Trump's likeness
By Tristan Scott
An advocacy group this week filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s decision to depict the president on the annual national parks pass in 2026, replacing an image of Glacier National Park that won top honors in a public photography contest.
Filed Dec. 10 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the complaint comes from the Center for Biological Diversity, which alleges the Departments of Interior and Agriculture violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA), which requires the departments’ secretaries “hold an annual photography contest to select the winning image that will appear on the Annual Pass for a year, and that the contest be open to the public and be used to educate the American people about our public lands.”
The violation allegedly occurred when the departments opted to include an image of President Trump’s likeness juxtaposed with that of George Washington, the first president of the United States.
According to the 16-page complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, the departments “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.”
“Since FLREA’s passage, the issuance of the America the Beautiful Pass has been a great success,” the complaint states. “It has been purchased by millions of people and generates many tens of millions of dollars for management of public lands, while motivating tens of thousands of individuals to participate in the annual photography contest.”
However, the complaint continues, on Nov. 25, 2025, the Department of the Interior announced, among other changes, that the Annual America the Beautiful Pass would bear an image of President Trump, not the contest-winning image of Glacier National Park, which “was illegally relegated to Trump’s newly created Nonresident pass,” according to a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity.
“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 [FLREA] statute,” the Center’s complaint states. “It also undermines the stability of this well-established program and the conservation, recreational, and educational outcomes FLREA provides.”
The Interior Department did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Enacted in 2004, FLREA sets forth criteria for the collection and expenditure of fees for public access to, and recreational use of, hundreds of millions of acres of public lands administered by the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior. Central to the criteria is the creation and use of the Annual America the Beautiful Pass, a multiagency pass that provides convenient and cost-effective public access to lands under the Secretaries’ jurisdiction for which an entry fee is charged.
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.
“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 Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center, in a statement. “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.”