At dozens of national parks and historic sites across the United States, escaping from it all to enjoy the country’s vast open spaces has taken on a whole new meaning.

Also leave your dollars and coins.

The National Park Service continues to convert dozens of sites across the country to cash-only, drawing complaints and now a lawsuit.

As of June last year, visitors to Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park were told they could not use cash to enter the park or use its campsites. The negative reactions came quickly, with visitors expressing privacy concerns and confusion about why the US dollar would not be welcome in the US parks system. Some noted that not everyone has a credit or debit card.

“The National Parks belong to the citizens,” wrote one of dozens of people who complained about the decision the site’s Facebook page. “If we want to use legal tender, we have to do that.”

“So now RMNP becomes like Walmart’s self-checkout,” another wrote under the park’s announcement, which later stopped accepting comments and referred people to official channels.

The park service has been roll out the policy for several years. In 2019, the agency announced it would only accept credit cards, debit cards and special park passes at Pipe Spring National Monument in Arizona. Similar changes occurred at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana and then at Death Valley National Park in California, and this month National Monument Hovenweep in Colorado and National Natural Bridges Monument in Utah, without cash. (Annual passes can still be purchased with cash at many locations.)

In January, Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Las Vegas also switched to a cashless system, and the reactions on the park forum were so testy that Moderators have sent reminders to keep it family friendly.

“I don’t really see this as an improvement in customer service,” one person wrote, who said he was a former firefighter. “No, not everyone has plastic. And if they do, they may not want to be tracked everywhere. Maybe they don’t want to leave a paper trail. Maybe their card is full. Maybe they don’t want their partner to know where they are.’

And he asked: “Since when is legal tender not suitable for use in payments?”

The park service said it wanted to reduce risk and the time employees spend managing cash, and increase revenue and accountability. At the Valley of Death and Nevada parks, for example, rangers collected $22,000 in cash, which ultimately cost more than $40,000 in administrative fees when you factor in the use of an armored car and the time spent counting money and processing paperwork.

Now those complaints are the subject of a lawsuit filed March 6 in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, alleging that the agency’s policy violates federal law that defines cash as “legal tender” and the “legal right of visitors to pay in cash” at national sites, including visitors without a bank account or card or visitors who simply prefer to pay in cash.

In addition to the park service, the director, Charles F. Sams, III, and the Department of the Interior were named as suspects. They did not respond to questions on Wednesday and Thursday.

“NPS cashless is against the law as U.S. money is not accepted as legal tender to visit the country’s treasures,” the filing said.

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment.

One of the three plaintiffs, Toby Stover, a New York woman, drove to Hyde Park, New York, in January to visit the historic home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the lawsuit said. At the gate, a man in a National Park Service uniform asked if she was there for the 3:30 p.m. tour. She said yes, but was not allowed inside after she tried to pay $10 in cash, the complaint said.

Esther van der Werf, living in California, is also considered a plaintiff. In January and February, while planning trips to Saguaro National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Tonto National Monument, all in Arizona, Ms. van der Werf was told she could not pay in cash, the lawsuit said. And a Georgia woman who is also a plaintiff, Elizabeth Dasburg, was told she could not use cash to enter Georgia’s Fort Pulaski National Monument, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Ray L. Flores, II, said in an emailed response to questions that the legal action is being financially supported by the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who has taken legal action against the pandemic. mandates and was criticized for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.

Mr. Flores said in the email that cashless policies were “an important part – if not the linchpin – of the surveillance state.” He said he had advised the complainants not to respond to interview requests.

The group’s general counsel, Kim Mack Rosenberg, said the organization supported the action “to push back against the towards a cashless society And central bank digital currency.”

According to the Federal Reserve, there is no federal statute that says a private business, person, or organization must accept currency or coins.