‘I’m there to enjoy the outdoors’: Trump’s National Parks pass stirs discomfort among some, but one Washington business has a solution

When Seattle-based photographer Mio Monasch wants to disconnect from the political and economic frustrations of his everyday life, he heads outdoors, often to Washington’s extensive system of national park sites.

The last thing he wants to think about is the current political situation, but the design of this year’s America the Beautiful pass – which allows visitors entrance into all 63 U.S. national parks – has made that hard.

Released in January, the pass features a stoic portrait of George Washington posed next to a stony-eyed photo of President Donald Trump. The design has caused controversy for parkgoers who are used to the pass featuring iconic images of the United States’ natural beauty.

“I’m there to enjoy the outdoors,” Monasch said. “So if I immediately – to get in – have to pull something out of my wallet that completely shatters that thing that I’m trying to get away from to go outside to do, I’m pretty not stoked to get ripped right back into that.”

In addition to entry into the national parks, the America the Beautiful pass awards access to any land managed by the National Park Service, Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Monasch, who has bought a pass for 18 years in a row, has helped to find a way to cover the pass’s current image and reinstate a design that he said honors the mission of the parks using his own photographs.

Recruited by owner and founder of gear company Rainier Watch, David Lindahl, the two designed a sleeve that slips over the pass to cover Trump’s face with a choice of three different photos of iconic spots in Washington’s national parks.

“It feels very contrary to the national parks when you’ve got the face of someone who’s trying to defund them on the park pass,” Lindahl said.

Since Trump entered office, the parks have experienced hiring freezes, layoffs and budget cuts, which impacted the ability to keep visitor centers open, perform maintenance and ensure the safety of parkgoers, the Washington Post reported.

Sold online for $12, the pass sleeves feature a sunrise view of Mount Rainier, North Cascade’s Diablo Lake or Olympic’s Rialto Beach. The photos are all Monasch originals.

Lindahl got the idea in the fall as soon as he heard rumblings that the 2026 national park pass would have Trump’s picture on it. Initially, he wanted to create stickers, but when reports came out that a sticker or any tampering with the pass may invalidate its use, Lindahl shifted his idea to the sleeve.

Having worked with Monasch before on a “Protect Our Parks” campaign for Rainier Watch, Lindahl said he was thrilled to have a Pacific Northwest photographer on the project.

Since the sleeves were released, Lindahl said they have become one of Rainier Watch’s most popular products, with thousands sold in the past several months.

“Anytime that you share it on social media as well, people just go bonkers for it,” Lindahl said.

One of Lindahl’s hopes is that the sleeve will encourage disdained park visitors to still buy the pass.

“Part of me is kind of worried that the parks need all the funding that we can give them, basically, and so I wouldn’t want people to stop paying for passes or stop going just because of the imagery that’s on it,” Lindahl said. “But I definitely understand where they are coming from.”

Jess O’Hare, a Richland resident who uses her park pass more than 30 times a year, said she still has the pass with last year’s design – thankfully, she said. The America the Beautiful pass can be used for one full year from the date it was bought before it expires.

When her pass expires, O’Hare said she wouldn’t buy a new one if the design still has Trump’s face on it.

“If they continue to put pictures of people I don’t like, a lot, then next year I would do something else,” O’Hare said.

She said she would try backpacking in Canada or drive into the parks in the middle of the night to use her parents’ lifetime pass when rangers weren’t monitoring entry.

To use an America the Beautiful pass, a photo ID is required, and the name on the pass must match the ID.

The annual America the Beautiful pass costs $80 for American citizens and residents and $250 for non-residents. Free lifetime passes are available for veterans and Gold Star families and citizens and residents with disabilities. Discounted lifetime and annual passes are available for citizens older than 62.

The annual military pass for service members and dependents is also free. Like the standard pass, it also features a photo of Trump, this time with him saluting an audience of blurred soldiers.

In the first quarter of 2026, pass revenue generated $16.7 million compared to $14.3 million in the first quarter of 2025, according to the National Park Service.

“Those additional resources help fund visitor services, infrastructure improvements and the stewardship of the nation’s most treasured places,” the National Park Service wrote in an email to The Spokesman-Review.

Marissa Price, a Liberty Lake mom of three, took advantage of the “Every Kid Outdoors” pass, which allows families of fourth-graders free access to the parks through the duration of their school year, plus the summer following.

Though the digital-only fourth-grade pass has its own design – a photo of three kids tubing – Price said her family wouldn’t let Trump’s photo deter them. In the past few years, Price and her husband took their children on two different national park road trips where they visited about 20 parks.

“We love going to national parks, and that’s not something that we’re going to let stop us from exploring and being outside with our family,” Price said.

Eastern Washington University history professor Bill Youngs teaches a course on the history of national parks both in the United States and internationally. Though he now owns a lifetime senior pass, he said the picture wouldn’t stop him from buying an America the Beautiful pass. He said he’s much more concerned with access to the parks.

“In fairness to President Trump – obviously one associates him more with golf courses than with national parks – but in his first presidency, four new national parks were created,” Youngs said.

Under the first Trump administration, Gateway Arch National Park, Indiana Dunes National Park, White Sands National Park and New River Gorge National Park and Preserve were as National Parks, according to the National Park Service.

Many of the frustrations with this year’s pass come from the political nature of putting a president – especially one as polarizing as Trump – on it.

Artie McRae, who lives in Republic, Washington, near North Cascades National Park, said having Trump’s picture on the pass bothered her, so she chose to get a digital pass. While the digital pass still has the same design, McRae said she prefers not to have a physical copy.

McRae said Trump’s ideals are the opposite of what the parks represent – serenity, beauty and a chance to enjoy protected lands and disconnect from the world. In her opinion, the parks are for everyone and shouldn’t be attached to any political sway.

“There shouldn’t be any president’s face on a pass,” McRae said.

Part of the inspiration for Rainier Watch’s pass sleeves was to honor the most recognizable and memorable views of Washington’s national parks and to keep “the national parks about the national parks,” Monasch and Lindahl said. They are hoping to launch more designs from other parks soon.

Monasch said he wanted the photos on the sleeve to be distinct views of the parks people would know and remember. He didn’t want to use images from the backcountry that may be more inaccessible to certain groups.

“With each park, there’s kind of that unique view,” Monasch said. “Whatever your memory is of it or whatever specialty about that park, they’re kind of all built around some of these similar views, or the views themselves are a part of that memory.”

Monasch said he hopes these quintessential moments end up back on the pass in the years to come.

“I would definitely love to see the national parks back on the national parks pass,” Lindahl said.