Boulder artist creates nature-themed stickers to cover new National Park Pass design

The stickers are sized to match the America The Beautiful pass and are designed to be peeled in different ways.

BOULDER, Colo. — A Boulder artist is creating removable stickers featuring her nature paintings to cover the 2026 America the Beautiful annual pass.

Jenny McCarty said she learned recently what the 2026 national parks pass would look like and felt it shifted attention away from the landscapes the passes are meant to celebrate. 

“You can tell there’s no nature there, no national parks featured,” she said.

The Department of Interior recently announced the 2026 annual passes would feature President Trump’s face next to George Washington’s.

McCarty initially joked about covering the pass with her own artwork. “I was like, luckily I have this sticker to put on top,” she said. 

The response online surprised her. 

“People expressed that they loved that idea,” she said, turning the joke into a small business venture that has grown.

“These are all original paintings,” she said. One design shows “a grizzly bear sitting here, looking at Denali on a clear sky day.”

McCarty said the goal is to refocus attention on nature. 

“I really just want to embrace what people are already expressing everywhere, that they want to see nature on their national parks pass. They don’t want it to be political,” she said.

The stickers are sized to match the America The Beautiful pass and are designed to be peeled in different ways. “They can cover it entirely,” McCarty said, or users can partially peel sections to reveal the original pass beneath. She noted that park staff usually check details on the back, including “the signature, the barcode, the year and the month they purchased it.”

What McCarty expected to be a small side project has instead gained traction. “It seems to have snowballed,” she said. “We’ve had over 1,200 orders.” She recruited her husband, Nathan Skalak, and others to help fulfill orders, which have come from all 50 states.

Skalak said the project resonates with people who care about preservation. 

“People care and they want to see these places preserved,” he said. “This is one little way of just reminding ourselves of the beauty of the parks.”

McCarty charges $6 per sticker. She said that after material and shipping costs, proceeds are being donated to the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Foundation. The project is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the National Park Service.

 McCarty said it’s OK if the idea isn’t for everyone.