WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today to prevent President Donald Trump from replacing a beautiful picture of Glacier National Park with a closeup of his own face on the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass.

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. “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.

“America the Beautiful means wild rivers and majestic mountains, not a headshot of a bloated, fragile, attention-seeking ego. There’s nothing beautiful about that.”

Federal law requires the main America the Beautiful Pass to feature the winning photo of the National Parks Foundation’s annual public lands photo contest. For the 2026 pass, this is a gorgeous image of Montana’s Glacier National Park.

Instead the Department of the Interior replaced it with a closeup of President Trump’s face (pictured below) while bragging of “new, modernized graphics for all annual passes, featuring bold, patriotic designs” based on “America First” values.

The Glacier National Park photo was illegally relegated to Trump’s newly created “Nonresident” pass.

Today’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., asserts that the Trump administration violated the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 by refusing to use the contest-winning Glacier National Park photo on the main America the Beautiful Annual Pass, by substituting a photo of Trump that was not taken on federal land and was not entered in the public contest, and by creating new Resident and Nonresident passes expressly prohibited by the law.

The lawsuit includes these images of the contest-winning Glacier National Park photo and the main 2026 America the Beautiful Annual Pass created by Trump:

The lawsuit also includes this image of the 12 preceding America the Beautiful Annual Passes to juxtapose the bizarre nature of Trump’s 2026 pass. They feature the Everglades National Park, Wupatki National Monument, Sequoia & Kings Range National Park, San Juan National Forest, Redwood National Forest, Bridger-Teton National Forest, Acadia National Park, Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and the Nantahala National Forest.

Background

Section “6801(a) America the Beautiful — the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass” of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 requires that:

“The Secretaries [of Interior and Agriculture] shall hold an annual competition to select the image to be used on the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass for a year.”

The contest and image are not a minor afterthought; they are essential to the democratic and educational goals of the law:

“The competition shall be open to the public and used as a means to educate the American people about Federal recreational lands and waters.”

It also prohibits the creation of new American the Beautiful passes beyond the seven explicitly named and described in the law:

“(9) Prohibition on other national recreation passes

The Secretary may not establish any national recreation pass, except as provided in this section.”