Wounded Vets & Disabled Citizens Granted Free Lifetime National Park Access

An Act passed just last week grants free lifetime access to National Parks like Acadia to both wounded military veterans and U.S. citizens who are permanently disabled.

Just a few weeks following the U.S. Department of the Interior's opening the gates to National Parks for America's Gold Star families, the same will now happen for those wounded while serving in the military and those U.S. citizens who are disabled.

Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have passed the Wounded Veterans Recreation Act, a law that will these two groups free lifetime access to all National Parks, which of course includes Acadia right here in Maine.

One of the sponsors of The Act was newly re-elected Maine Senator Susan Collins, who said that this "will ensure that disabled veterans can continue to access our country’s national treasures for outdoor recreation, which can help heal both the visible and invisible wounds of war."

The Wounded Veterans Recreation Act also grants free lifetime access to National Parks to any U.S. citizen "who has been medically determined to be permanently disabled, if the citizen or person furnishes adequate proof of the disability and such citizenship or residency."

Earlier this month, both Maine State Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat, and Senator Angus King, an independent, celebrated the enactment of their proposal that will allow Gold Star families, which are immediate family members of those that were killed in the line of duty, free lifetime access to all parks within the National Park Service.