Feds says stickers covering Trump's face on national parks passes could invalidate them

John Wenzel, The Denver Post on Jan 6, 2026

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DENVER — Placing a sticker over President Donald Trump’s face on a 2026 National Parks pass could invalidate it, according to updated rules from the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The note on “Void if Altered” rules says that stickers, coverings, or other alterations could make the pass useless. The internal email detailing the changes, which was obtained and first reported by SF Gate, appears to have been prompted by a Boulder, Colorado, artist’s popular stickers that were offered as alternatives for the new design.

Trump’s face is set to adorn the American the Beautiful parks pass, alongside George Washington, starting Jan. 1. A new, internal email from department business specialists Allison Christofis and Jeff Beauchamp to regional National Park Service staff specifically mentions stickers on the front of the pass, SF Gate said.

“Defacing the pass in any way, including writing on it or adding stickers or other coverings, is a form of altering the pass,” the policy reportedly reads. “Altering a pass can cover up important information and required security features necessary to prevent fraud.”

The Denver Post was not immediately able to verify the document.

A public lands group, the Center for Biological Diversity, last month filed a lawsuit against the Interior Department over the design of the new park passes, saying physical changes violate an act that relies on an annual photo contest that is supposed to determine the images — and to highlight nature over people.

McCarty is selling her stickers through her Sage Leaf Studio website at $6 each, and since launching on Dec. 10, she’s been struggling to fill thousands of orders that have arrived. With “every dollar” going to the National Park Foundation, the vinyl, full-color stickers depict McCarty’s paintings of a brown bear against a verdant field and Denali’s mountain majesty; a furry pika — a much-loved resident of Rocky Mountain National Park — with a flower in its teeth; and a wolf howling majestically against the Grand Tetons.

“I’m just one person in this, and it couldn’t have happened without many people,” she told The Denver Post last month. “I’m blown away by the number of people who see this as a chance to use their voice and choose things they want to see. The National Parks are our lands and every single one of us owns them. … I get so much joy from art and the National Parks, and this has been a great way to combine my passions.”

However, McCarty explicitly warns that covering Trump’s face completely — despite being a “bold, peaceful protest” — is at your own risk. Using a clear card sleeve, with the sticker on the front and the details showing on the back, is “most cautious.”

Or, if you cover most of it, her stickers “have backing in sections so you can leave some on and lift to show the pass underneath,” she wrote on Instagram.

Delivery time for McCarty’s stickers is currently running about four weeks due to “experiencing a high volume of orders and fulfilling them with the help of volunteers,” according to McCarty’s website.

Environmental groups have repeatedly raised objections in the past year to the White House’s drive to open National Parks to oil drilling, road-building and other development, as well as laying off employees and cutting budgets.

In June, a nonpartisan U.S. Senate rulekeeper blocked Republican-backed public land sales of more than 14 million acres in Colorado that were eligible as part of a larger Western lands provision. A budget bill had called for the sale of between 0.5% and 0.75% of the 438 million acres managed by the BLM and USFS, The Denver Post has reported.