{"id":364876,"date":"2026-06-17T23:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/364876\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T23:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T23:04:08","slug":"california-offers-free-passes-to-more-than-30-state-historic-parks-for-a-limited-time-the-press-democrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/364876\/","title":{"rendered":"California offers free passes to more than 30 state historic parks for a limited time \u2013 The Press Democrat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visitors looking to learn about California history on a budget will be given free admission to more than 30 state historical parks through the rest of this year, including Sutter\u2019s Mill, where the Gold Rush began in 1848<\/a>, Fort Ross on the rugged Sonoma Coast, the Bodie ghost town near Mono Lake and San Juan Bautista State Historic Park<\/a> in San Benito County.<\/p>\n

The announcement Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom is intended to boost interest in California\u2019s historical sites to commemorate America\u2019s 250th birthday on July 4 and to highlight Juneteenth \u2014 the federal holiday every June 19 that was established in 2021 to mark the end of slavery.<\/p>\n

Under the new program, anyone can download a state parks \u201cHistorian Passport,\u201d which normally costs $50 a year, for free, starting on Friday and continuing until July 6. The passport can be used for free admission for up to four people to the 33 participating state parks<\/a> for the rest of this year.<\/p>\n

To download the pass, set up an account at reservecalifornia.com<\/a> \u2014 the state parks department\u2019s website for reserving campgrounds \u2014 and go to https:\/\/reservecalifornia.com\/passes\/advancepasses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The free admission does not include all state parks.<\/p>\n

There are 380 state parks altogether, ranging from the towering redwoods at Big Basin in the Santa Cruz Mountains to the \u201cBaywatch\u201d beaches of Southern California and the scenic shorelines of Lake Tahoe. Nor does the offer include every historic site in California\u2019s vast state parks system. Some locations like Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo County and Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, which are run largely through contracts with private concession companies, are not offering free admission.<\/p>\n

The full list is at www.parks.ca.gov\/pages\/1012\/files\/DPR335HP.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

In making the announcement Wednesday, Newsom sought to contrast California with the Trump administration\u2019s stewardship of national parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia doesn\u2019t hide from hard truths and uncomfortable history \u2014 in fact, we embrace it and learn from it,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cWhile Trump ignores and tries to rewrite the past, California is marking these celebrations of freedom by inviting everyone to learn our country\u2019s history \u2014 our real history \u2014 for free in our state parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 27, 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled \u201cRestoring Truth and Sanity to American History.\u201d<\/a> It ordered the removal of materials from national parks and museums that cast the United States\u2019 \u201cfounding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months after, Trump administration officials removed hundreds of references, images and exhibits at national parks that referenced civil rights, slavery, the mistreatment of Indian tribes and climate change.<\/p>\n

Among them are signs explaining climate change at Glacier National Park in Montana, where rising temperatures are melting the park\u2019s glaciers; exhibits at the Grand Canyon detailing abuses to Indian tribes as the West was settled; and an exhibit about the lives of slaves at Philadelphia\u2019s Independence National Historical Park.<\/p>\n

After environmental groups sued, however, a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore the materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory cannot be faithfully told while excluding the experiences of communities whose contributions, struggles, and achievements form an important part of our nation\u2019s story,\u201d U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts wrote.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Trump administration appealed the decision.<\/p>\n

Newsom also highlighted several other controversial Trump decisions Wednesday. Those included his decision to replace free admission to national parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth with free admission on Trump\u2019s own birthday; layoffs to national parks workers under Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE program cuts last year; and Trump\u2019s decision to put his own face on national park passes, instead of scenes of wildlife and scenic national park landscapes, as a 2004 federal law required. Trump also created a new fee structure at national parks, charging people who aren\u2019t U.S. residents $100 in addition to their entry fees when they visit many of America\u2019s most famous national parks, including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Everglades and Sequoia Kings Canyon.<\/p>\n

Trump officials pushed back on Newsom\u2019s announcement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Newsom\u2019s latest attempt to distract from California\u2019s homelessness crisis in state parks and failing schools, where fewer than one in three students are proficient in reading, isn\u2019t fooling anyone,\u201d said Matthew Middleton, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of the Interior. \u201cAs America approaches our 250th anniversary, the Trump administration is committed to celebrating the full story of our nation, not erasing or rewriting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans in Sacramento also criticized Newsom\u2019s framing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree admission to a state park is nice,\u201d said George Andrews, a spokesman for the Republican Assembly Caucus in the state Legislature. \u201cMaking California affordable would be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environmentalists defended Newsom\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump is just trashing our national park system at every level \u2014 from who is admitted to them, to cutting funding and staff to turning them into political platforms,\u201d said Kier\u00e1n Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has sued to remove Trump\u2019s photo from the national park pass. \u201cIt\u2019s horrific. The national parks are the one thing that rises above politics. Everybody loves them. It\u2019s where you go to get away from all the politics. But Trump has tried to turn the ultimate unifying force in America into a divisive linchpin. It\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom has a mixed record on state parks. He has funded programs to allow people to check out free state parks passes at libraries, and he recently established three new state parks in the Central Valley. Until 2024, when he established Dos Rios State Park near Modesto<\/a>, California had not added any new state parks since 2009. Environmental groups have also noted the state parks budget has been flat and billions of dollars in deferred maintenance has accrued.<\/p>\n

Many praised Wednesday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia has such a rich history,\u201d said Rachel Norton, executive director of the California State Parks Foundation, a non-profit group that contributed $20,000 to help fund the free pass program. \u201cThere are so many chapters you don\u2019t necessarily learn in school. Every Californian should know all the chapters of our history. There are so many great places that celebrate the contributions of so many folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Doyle, former general manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity to tell the truth about history,\u201d he said. \u201cState parks has done a good job. National parks are struggling. The budget cuts, the decree by Trump to only say positive things about American history. You aren\u2019t telling the truth about history unless you tell all sides.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visitors looking to learn about California history on a budget will be given free admission to more than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,148064,457,25880,148065,69916],"class_list":["post-364876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-free-state-parks-admission","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-national-parks","tag-national-parks-lawsuit","tag-state-parks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}