All national parks are free to the public on Sunday
The free admission event is a way to commemorate the four-year anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act.
Yellowstone works to protect wildlife as tourists flock to iconic national park
Tourists flocking to a beloved national park are starting the summer off by breaking the rules over wildlife interactions. Several stories of attempts to take selfies with bison, picking up a bison calf and moving it, and the latest, driving an elk calf to a police station, have gone viral, prompting Yellowstone to issue a statement asking the public to act responsibly. FOX Weather's Robert Ray is at the park with a look at what's to be done to protect both man and beast.
The National Park Service will waive entrance fees to its more than 400 NPS sites Sunday.
Here are a few examples of park units that usually have an admission fee, but will be free to visit for the day:
- Alaska - Denali National Park.
- California - Death Valley National Park.
- Florida - Everglades National Park.
- Idaho/Montana/Wyoming - Yellowstone National Park.
- Utah - Arches National Park.
The landscape of Arches National Park in Moab, Utah, is seen in April 2024.
(Robert Ray / FOX Weather)
The free admission event is a way to commemorate the four-year anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act, or GAOA, the NPS said. Passed in 2020, the law provided $6 billion to the national parks to fund maintenance and repair projects.
"The Great American Outdoors Act is one of the largest infusions of funding in the history of the National Park Service, enabling us to make long-needed repairs and improvements on everything from iconic buildings to trails, roads, bridges, lodges, campgrounds, utility systems and landscapes," said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.
TOP 10 BEST US NATIONAL PARKS TO VISIT WITH KIDS
For example, the GAOA is helping refurbish many park roads that have experienced decades of inclement weather and heavy traffic. Some of those roads include the Foothill Parkway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park.
View from Glacier National Park.
(NPS / FOX Weather)
Funding from the GAOA is also going toward making park units more accessible. Mammoth Cave National Park, for instance, is improving an underground walkway, a heavily used bike path and other trails in the park.
One of the paths inside Mammoth Cave National Park.
(David Kem / NPS / FOX Weather)
THE STORY OF HOW THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WAS FOUNDED
Other projects benefiting from the GAOA include the replacement of campsite picnic tables and fire rings, smoothing out tent surfaces, clearing vegetation and upgrading restrooms and water lines at Mount Rainier and other national parks.
Mount Rainier and Little Tahoma from the Glacier Basin Trail in the White River area.
(NPS / FOX Weather)
Iconic buildings are also being preserved through this legislation. One of those buildings is the historic Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, which served as a hospital during World War II.
"GAOA investments are directly influencing public enjoyment and satisfaction of their national parks," the NPS said. "With dozens of projects already completed or under construction, visitors are already benefitting from improved facilities nationwide and will continue to do so long into the future with proper care and maintenance."
More information about how the GAOA is impacting the national parks can be found here.
After Sunday, only two free admission days to NPS sites remain: Sept. 28 which is National Public Lands Day and Nov. 11 which is Veterans Day.