New law gives veterans, Gold Star Families free lifetime access to America’s national parks – USA TODAY
A new law is giving veterans and Gold Star Families free lifetime access to national parks and federal recreational lands. The Alexander Lofgren Veterans in Parks (VIP) Act was rolled into the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law over the holidays.
“When you take your oath, if you go into the service, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, you really are protecting the homeland,” the National Park Service’s new director and Navy veteran Chuck Sams told USA TODAY. “I think this is a great recognition of that responsibility you took on to serve your nation.”
In 2020, the National Park Service announced that veterans and Gold Star Families, who’ve lost loved ones in the line of service to this country, would receive free access to the park service’s 423 sites around the country. This new law makes the move permanent and also cements the free annual passes available for active-duty military.
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These are among America’s least visited national parks, excluding remote places like Alaska, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Dry Tortugas.
Staff video, USA TODAY
Using outdoors as therapy
It’s named after late Arizona congressional aide and veteran Alexander Lofgren, who died at Death Valley National Park last April.
The bill was introduced in July by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., who are both veterans.
“As a veteran, I know firsthand the importance of national parks as a place of connection and healing when dealing with the visible and invisible wounds of war,” Gallego said in a statement.
Lofgren served four years in the Army as a combat engineer and deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 before joining the office of Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., as a Wounded War Fellow in 2019, according to the announcement of his hiring.
Grijalva said Lofgren loved the outdoors and used it as therapy following his deployment.
“Alex working with us here saw that nature, our open spaces, our state and federal park lands and wilderness areas and public places were therapeutic, that they were important in the reintegrations of veterans back into our civilian life here after they completed their service to the nation, and he was a huge proponent of that,” Grijalva told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network.
“Although he is no longer with us, his legacy will forever live on in this legislation that will allow countless veterans and Gold Star Families to experience our national parks as places of healing, comfort, and security indefinitely,” Grijalva said in a statement.
