Sponsors (5)
The bill offers a one-day, nationwide opportunity for free access to federal public lands to lower costs and increase public engagement for the semiquincentennial, at the trade-off of forgone fee revenue for land managers and higher crowding pressure at popular sites.
Millions of Americans — families, visitors, and recreationists from urban and rural communities — can enter National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and visit Forest Service, BLM, and Reclamation sites without standard entrance or amenity fees on Sept 17, 2026, lowering per-visit costs for outings.
The fee-free semiquincentennial day may boost public participation, education, and awareness of public lands (benefiting schools, universities, families and the general public) and encourage engagement with conservation and outdoor recreation.
Park and land-management agencies will lose fee revenue collected on that day, which could reduce funds available for maintenance, visitor services, or programs unless offset by other revenue or appropriations.
A single fee-free day could concentrate visitation at popular sites, producing crowding that degrades visitor experience and stresses facilities and natural resources.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires federal land managers to waive specified entrance and standard amenity recreation fees for September 17, 2026, making that a fee-free day.
Introduced September 18, 2025 by John Boozman · Last progress September 18, 2025
Designates September 17, 2026 as a fee-free day across multiple federal public recreation systems by requiring the Secretary of the Interior and other specified Secretaries to waive certain entrance and standard amenity recreation fees for that date. The waiver covers entrance fees for units of the National Park System and National Wildlife Refuge System that charge an entrance fee, and waives Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation standard amenity recreation fees at sites that charge them for that single day. The change applies only on that date; it does not create a new permanent program or provide new funding. Agencies required to implement the waiver must do so administratively for the specified day, which may reduce fee revenue collected on that date and slightly increase public visitation and access for communities and visitors.