National Parks drop entrance fees on April 19 to celebrate National Parks Week
OAKLAND, Calif. - Outdoor enthusiasts can save themselves some money this month, if they plan ahead.
National Park Week — the annual celebration of America's National Parks system — kicks off on April 19. In honor of the event, access to each of the country's 400 national parks will be free for that day. That doesn't mean, however, that people don't need to plan their visit.
Some of the more popular parks have instituted a reservation policy during peak periods, to prevent visitors getting stuck in traffic jams trying to access the park.
Anyone hoping to visit on April 19 should plan ahead by visiting recreation.gov, searching for the park they'd like to visit and checking the "timed entry" column for reservation information. Utah's Arches National Park, for example, requires a timed entry reservation beginning in April, between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. If reservations are unavailable, visitors can still enter the park, provided they arrive before 7 a.m. or after 4 p.m. Alternatively, they can walk or ride a bike into the park. Other parks can have a 24-hour reservation policy.
California has nine national parks, the most of any state in the country. The closest ones to the Bay Area are Pinnacles, Sequoia and Yosemite.
There are multiple opportunities for free access to the national parks following April 19:
- June 19 — Juneteenth National Independence Day
- Aug. 4 — Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
- Sept. 27 — National Public Lands Day
- Nov. 7 — Veterans Day
Fired National Park Service employees make plans for class-action lawsuit
The federal hiring freeze enacted via executive order by President Donald Trump is heavily impacting the Department of the Interior. The department fired thousands of employees last week, and it could cause big problems for national parks. KTVU's Tori Gaines reports from San Francisco.
History lesson
The backstory:
The seeds of the National Park System were planted in 1872, when Congress signed the Yellowstone National Park Act, which established the park of that name. The legislation withdrew more than 2 million acres of land in Montana and Wyoming from the public domain, and placed that land under the control of the Secretary of the Interior, and placed upon that office the responsibility to preserve all timber, mineral deposits, and other resources within the park.
The Antiquities Act of 1906, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, authorized the president to proclaim and reserve "historic landmarks, historic or prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest" as national monuments.
The National Parks Service itself wasn't created for another decade. By 1916 the Department of the Interior oversaw 14 national parks and 21 national monuments, as well as the Hot Springs and Casa Grande Ruin reservations, but lacked an organization to operate those properties. Congress that year passed what is often called the Organic Act, which established the National Park Serviced and placed all existing parks under its management. That legislation established the basis for the organization's mission, philosophy and policies.
Since then the organization has come to oversee more than 85 million acres in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and United States territories.