National Park fee increase possible

[Lwiddis]

The New York Post reported...

“The National Park Service is considering a steep increase in entrance fees at 17 of its most popular parks, mostly in the U.S. West, to address a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure projects. Visitors to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion and other national parks would be charged $70 per vehicle, up from the fee of $30 for a weekly pass. At others, the hike is nearly triple, from $25 to $70.”

[fyrflie]

rvshrinker wrote:
You can’t talk about the NPS backlog and underfunding without talking about the growing share of our federal budget which is devoted to entitlements - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security - and interest on the debt. The only way our budget trajectory can change is when everyone agrees to act like an adult and sacrifice something for the good of future Americans. We will all have to give up something, or the 4 expenses above alone will total more than all federal revenue within 15 years. There won’t be room for anything else - education, homeland security, national defense, to say nothing of the interior department and the NPS.

The other item not mentioned was salaries.
We the people can’t expect anyone to work for nothing. And as costs continue to rise so should the salaries of the personnel that work to keep are parks in working order.

[temccarthy1]

bukhrn wrote:

2gypsies wrote:
Here's how the yearly attendance is at the major parks:

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/annual-visitation-highlights.htm

As volunteers in these parks we have seen the 'behind-the-scene' issues the parks have to deal with. When 5 million people visit a park that creates a lot of manpower, a strong law enforcement team, road repairs, general building repairs, etc. The amount kept in the parks from the entrance fees doesn't begin to cover the overall costs of needed repairs/updating that the public expects.

Nothing will replace these parks. If you expect your children/grandchildren and their descendants to have the good experiences that you've had then costs will go up over the years to preserve these parks for them. Costs in everything goes up. Think of the cigarettes, booze, cars, groceries, fuel, amusement park entrances, movies, etc. that you willingly pay. Those have all gone up over the years and yet, we just pay them.

I think we all agree, there needs to be an increase, But I can't remember anything that has gone up 134% at one time.

X2-- It isn't that no one expected an increase-- it is the AMOUNT of the increase at one time--from $20 to $70 on daily use? A Senior lifetime pass from $10 to $80?? Only Washington lawmakers can propose something that extreme! Yes, we all pay more for food, dining out, movies, amusement parks but NO private business ever got away with 300-400% increases in 1 shot! Never! They would be out of business! But the Fed doesn't think like that! A 10-15% increase every year for next 10 years might be palatable... but this one time increase is ridiculous and unfair! But our elected officials have a different mindset when they are spending our tax money and do not risk going out of business! Such a shame why common sense does not prevail on these kind of decisions! Thank God I got my Sr lifetime pass for $ 10 several years ago! I feel bad for those who do not have one yet!

[bukhrn]

2gypsies wrote:
Here's how the yearly attendance is at the major parks:

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/annual-visitation-highlights.htm

As volunteers in these parks we have seen the 'behind-the-scene' issues the parks have to deal with. When 5 million people visit a park that creates a lot of manpower, a strong law enforcement team, road repairs, general building repairs, etc. The amount kept in the parks from the entrance fees doesn't begin to cover the overall costs of needed repairs/updating that the public expects.

Nothing will replace these parks. If you expect your children/grandchildren and their descendants to have the good experiences that you've had then costs will go up over the years to preserve these parks for them. Costs in everything goes up. Think of the cigarettes, booze, cars, groceries, fuel, amusement park entrances, movies, etc. that you willingly pay. Those have all gone up over the years and yet, we just pay them.

I think we all agree, there needs to be an increase, But I can't remember anything that has gone up 134% at one time.

[2gypsies1]

Here's how the yearly attendance is at the major parks:

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/annual-visitation-highlights.htm

As volunteers in these parks we have seen the 'behind-the-scene' issues the parks have to deal with. When 5 million people visit a park that creates a lot of manpower, a strong law enforcement team, road repairs, general building repairs, etc. The amount kept in the parks from the entrance fees doesn't begin to cover the overall costs of needed repairs/updating that the public expects.

Nothing will replace these parks. If you expect your children/grandchildren and their descendants to have the good experiences that you've had then costs will go up over the years to preserve these parks for them. Costs in everything goes up. Think of the cigarettes, booze, cars, groceries, fuel, amusement park entrances, movies, etc. that you willingly pay. Those have all gone up over the years and yet, we just pay them.

[rvshrinker]

You can’t talk about the NPS backlog and underfunding without talking about the growing share of our federal budget which is devoted to entitlements - Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security - and interest on the debt. The only way our budget trajectory can change is when everyone agrees to act like an adult and sacrifice something for the good of future Americans. We will all have to give up something, or the 4 expenses above alone will total more than all federal revenue within 15 years. There won’t be room for anything else - education, homeland security, national defense, to say nothing of the interior department and the NPS.

[rockhillmanor]

News Release Date: October 24, 2017
Contact: NPS Office of Communications, 202-208-6843

Public invited to provide comments on proposed
peak season fee increases at 17 highly visited parks

A public comment period on the peak-season entrance fee proposal will be open from October 24, 2017 to November 23, 2017,

on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website https://parkplanning.nps.gov/proposedpeakseasonfeerates.
Written comments can be sent to 1849 C Street, NW, Mail Stop: 2346 Washington, DC 20240.


Make a difference, speak up, and post this link EVERYWHERE!! :C

[mz-s]

With the budget cut proposed in Congress, I'm surprised the increase isn't higher.

[Mortimer_Brewst]

The maintenance backlog is huge. The park at which you buy the pass gets to keep 80% of the money. What annoys me is that they are constantly having Free Admission days. Somebody in Washington has their head where the sun don’t shine. Then again, that’s not exactly news these days.

[rvshrinker]

The annual pass is a no brainer especially with the fee increases, but they could increase the price of the annual pass in the near future, as well.

If you camp at a park for a week the fee is irrelevant in the scheme of things. However for day trippers it’s a big deal. Some of the parks on the list are destination parks, such as the Grand Canyon. Yet the average visitor to the Grand Canyon spends only 2 hours there and never goes more than 10 feet below the rim. A 200% increase in the fee to visit will impact visitation, which may be one of the goals of the proposal.

The non-destination parks, such as Mt. Rainier and the Olympics, both near me, would see a big time drop off in daytime visitation with this proposal. Your average Seattle family who checks out Mt. Rainier for the day right now is not going to do that for $75. And I believe the visitor experience is not good enough to justify the fee. Long lines for parking, decrepit restroom facilities, traffic in every direction. This all represents decades of underinvestment as well as population growth and a desire to get back to nature.

When yellowstone national park was created as the world’s first national park in 1872, the population of the United States was 38,000,000 with the vast majority living east of the Mississippi. The population is now ten times that and the population west of the Mississippi is 100 times what it was 145 years ago. The parks simply will not handle these crowds without degradation of the user experience. They’ve explored a system of hard caps on visitation to the most popular parks, and already block entrance in some cases (ie Arches closes its gates at a certain capacity. They’ve also looked at reservation systems even for day visitors, for example to the Grand Canyon. more of this may be coming.

Hopefully those of you who qualify got your lifetime senior passes for $10 before the price went up to $80. That is still a steal and should protect you against any future price increases.

[Crowe]

Part of me wonders if this isn't a backdoor way to decrease visitation. Some won't pay that kind of money and sadly some just can't.

[moresmoke]

On the larger parks that one typically spends multiple days at, $70/week is not that bad. My understanding is that the smaller parks will not have the increase. How much do people spend on amusement park tickets?

Maybe they could charge extra to get up close and personal with the wild animals?

[jplante4]

User fee. Get used to it, there will be more coming.

[NanciL]

It is a terrible shame!
Once again the poorer families with three or four kids will be the ones that get hurt the most.

Jack L

[BizmarksMom]

It makes buying the annual pass a true no-brainer.