Advocates and tourism workers say they’re alarmed at Yosemite National Park‘s plans to scrap timed vehicle entry reservations in 2026.
NPS vehicle reservation systems at Arches National Park in Utah and Glacier National Park in Montana were also withdrawn in 2026.
In a Feb. 18 press release, National Park Service spokesperson Scott Gediman wrote that the Yosemite decision “follows a comprehensive evaluation of traffic patterns, parking availability and visitor use during the 2025 season.”
But operators within the park and advocates have expressed concern that the Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, is downplaying the likelihood of overcrowding during the summer months.
They also worry that, in addition to new fees being collected from international visitors, wait times to get into the park and damage to its natural environment could increase dramatically this year.
“I really don’t know what this looks like,” said Elisabeth Barton, founding member and CEO of tour company Echo Adventure Cooperative, which operates guided tours in and around Yosemite and Stanislaus National Forest. “I’m nervous because this is where I work and I play and I live, and the idea of it being run ragged just breaks my heart.”
In response to concerns about traffic and congestion, Yosemite Superintendent Ray McPadden told the San Francisco Chronicle that “[h]aving the park being full is not a bad thing, it’s not a crisis.”
“There’s always been high demand for Yosemite,” he said.
While it was discussed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the system was first implemented in 2020 in response to the pandemic and after record visitation to the park in 2019 to limit overcrowding at the park. After a pause in 2023, the program continued through the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Reservations have previously been made through Recreation.gov, the federal government’s booking system for making reservations on national park land, including camping slots. The “Yosemite National Park Ticketed Entry” page is still live, but informs visitors that reservations will not be in place for 2026.
With staffing already down at the park, the decision to remove timed vehicle reservations has the potential to overwhelm park staff and cause damage, warned Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada program manager for advocacy group the National Parks Conservation Association.
Rose also expressed concern about the possibility of hours-long wait times to enter the park, which could ultimately result in would-be visitors being turned away due to a lack of parking.
“The park experience that you’re gonna get at Yosemite this summer is something that nobody should have to face,” he said.
Rose said he’s most worried about the Fourth of July, which is also free to enter this year as part of the Trump administration’s changes to fee-free days — which included removing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the list of days on which visitors can enter the park for free.
“So, 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’s gonna be pretty problematic this year,” Rose said.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla echoed advocates’ concerns, calling the Yosemite decision “shortsighted.” Padilla also urged Congress to pass a bill he introduced last year to review reservation systems across all federal lands to make improvements in transparency, usability and fairness.
“With our national park system already strained by Donald Trump’s funding and staffing cuts, this decision will limit outdoor recreation opportunities, degrade the Park’s natural resources, and strain local businesses that rely on a steady stream of Park visitors,” Padilla said.
According to the release, the park’s analysis “found that most weekdays maintained available parking, stable traffic flow and visitation levels within the park’s operational capacity,” NPS’s Gediman said. “These findings indicate that a season-wide reservation requirement is not the most effective approach for 2026.”
But tour guide Barton contested the NPS’s claims that crowds ever truly subside during the summer, even on weekdays.
“Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, there is no such thing as a weekday or a weekend,” she said.
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, visitation to Yosemite increased by more than 30% between 2000 and 2019. And from 2020 to 2024, Rose said staff “fine-tuned” a visitor access management system — one he said was embraced by the public, staff and surrounding communities.
Now, Rose said he’s concerned how data from Yosemite’s 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.
“It’s ignoring the decades of work that was put into creating the reservation system,” Rose said.
The NPS did not respond to inquiries about the analysis that led to their decision to eliminate reservations. But in the news release announcing the end of the reservation program, Yosemite’s McPadden said that “[w]e are committed to visitor access, safety, and resource protection, and will continue active traffic management strategies to ensure a great visitor experience.”
“While reservation systems are one valuable management tool, our data demonstrates that a season-wide reservation requirement is not the most effective approach for the coming season,” McPadden said.
The release also noted the park plans to continue strategies that “proved effective” during the 2025 season, like real-time traffic monitoring, active parking management, added staffing during peak periods, improved visitor information and promoting visitation during off-days and outside of Yosemite Valley, where the park tends to be the busiest.
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