{"id":106418,"date":"2026-02-25T12:11:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/yosemite-wont-require-car-reservations-in-2026-park-advocates-are-worried\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T12:11:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T12:11:46","slug":"yosemite-wont-require-car-reservations-in-2026-park-advocates-are-worried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/25\/yosemite-wont-require-car-reservations-in-2026-park-advocates-are-worried\/","title":{"rendered":"Yosemite Won’t Require Car Reservations in 2026. Park Advocates Are Worried"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe park experience that you\u2019re gonna get at Yosemite this summer is something that nobody should have to face,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rose said he\u2019s most worried about the Fourth of July, which is also free to enter this year as part of the Trump administration\u2019s changes to fee-free days<\/a> \u2014 which included removing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of days on which visitors can enter the park for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, having it free, having no reservation system in place, having seen what it can be like on Fourth of July in the past? We know it\u2019s gonna be pretty problematic this year,\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla echoed advocates\u2019 concerns, calling the Yosemite decision \u201cshortsighted.\u201d Padilla also urged Congress to pass a bill he introduced<\/a> last year to review reservation systems across all federal lands to make improvements in transparency, usability and fairness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our national park system already strained by Donald Trump\u2019s funding and staffing cuts, this decision will limit outdoor recreation opportunities, degrade the Park\u2019s natural resources, and strain local businesses that rely on a steady stream of Park visitors,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

The view from Yosemite<\/h2>\n

According to the release, the park\u2019s analysis \u201cfound that most weekdays maintained available parking, stable traffic flow and visitation levels within the park\u2019s operational capacity,\u201d NPS\u2019s Gediman said. \u201cThese findings indicate that a season-wide reservation requirement is not the most effective approach for 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

But tour guide Barton contested the NPS\u2019s claims that crowds ever truly subside during the summer, even on weekdays.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Visitors stand at Tunnel View overlook in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Oct. 28, 2025. (Beth LaBerge\/KQED)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBetween Memorial Day and Labor Day, there is no such thing as a weekday or a weekend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to the National Parks Conservation Association<\/a>, visitation to Yosemite increased by more than 30% between 2000 and 2019. And from 2020 to 2024, Rose said staff \u201cfine-tuned\u201d a visitor access management system \u2014 one he said was embraced by the public, staff and surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

Now, Rose said he\u2019s concerned how data from Yosemite\u2019s 2025 season, when the park was still using vehicle reservations, has been used to justify removing such reservations in 2026. KQED has reached out to NPS for more specifics on the 2025 reservation system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe park experience that you\u2019re gonna get at Yosemite this summer is something that nobody should have to face,\u201d he said. Rose said he\u2019s most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,183],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-spotlight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}