To: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Yosemite Superintendent McPadden
Demand the Trump admin bring back Yosemite's reservation system!
Yosemite National Park is the crown jewel of the national park system, but without its reservation system, it’s buckling under record crowds. From 2020-2022 and again in 2024, Yosemite used a reservation system that eased overcrowding while still welcoming more than 4.1 million visitors in 2024, the fifth-highest attendance in the Park’s history.
The reservation system was built through years of transparent public engagement. But in February 2026, Trump’s National Park Service scrapped it—with no scientific justification or public input.
Tell NPS and Department of the Interior: Make our Parks safe and accessible and bring back Yosemite’s reservation system now!
The reservation system was built through years of transparent public engagement. But in February 2026, Trump’s National Park Service scrapped it—with no scientific justification or public input.
Tell NPS and Department of the Interior: Make our Parks safe and accessible and bring back Yosemite’s reservation system now!
Why is this important?
This didn’t happen in a vacuum. Yosemite, along with Arches National Park and Glacier National Park, ended reservations this year after Trump signed an executive order pushing parks to roll back access restrictions.
But these restrictions don’t exist to eliminate access. They make the park safer and guarantee that people who travel to the park will get to enter. Park employees and the organizations that support them say the surge in unmanaged crowds is demoralizing staff and damaging the park’s resources and reputation.
Eliminating the reservation system had immediate impacts—March 2026 visitation jumped 45% from the same month last year. This summer, traffic is bumper-to-bumper, trails are backed up, and parking lots fill before sunrise. Some travelers are giving up entirely, turning around after finding every major attraction already at capacity.
To make matters worse, the Trump administration’s staffing cuts across the Park Service have eliminated the employees who would normally handle science and safety work—leaving parks stretched thin managing traffic and gridlock instead.
Sign the petition now calling on the National Park Service and Department of the Interior to restore Yosemite’s reservation system now.
But these restrictions don’t exist to eliminate access. They make the park safer and guarantee that people who travel to the park will get to enter. Park employees and the organizations that support them say the surge in unmanaged crowds is demoralizing staff and damaging the park’s resources and reputation.
Eliminating the reservation system had immediate impacts—March 2026 visitation jumped 45% from the same month last year. This summer, traffic is bumper-to-bumper, trails are backed up, and parking lots fill before sunrise. Some travelers are giving up entirely, turning around after finding every major attraction already at capacity.
To make matters worse, the Trump administration’s staffing cuts across the Park Service have eliminated the employees who would normally handle science and safety work—leaving parks stretched thin managing traffic and gridlock instead.
Sign the petition now calling on the National Park Service and Department of the Interior to restore Yosemite’s reservation system now.