Arizona State Park camping fees

toedtoes wrote:
Unfortunately, there is a lot more to state parks than just maintaining a campground. In California, the Department of Parks and Recreation is not only in charge of outdoor recreation (e.g., camping), but also in the protection of our natural and cultural resources. It costs a lot of money to keep the buildings at Bodie from further deterioration. It costs a lot of money to keep our cultural museums operating (not to mention restoring archaeological and other historical artifacts for viewing). It costs a lot to repair damage caused by flooding, fires, vandalism, etc. The costs spent to camp helps the department do all those other things.

So while it may be that a $2 increase to camping fees is enough to support the campground, it's not enough to support the rest of the work being done.

Now, some state parks departments ONLY manage campgrounds and day use areas. In those states, a slight fee raise may be sufficient to support the functions of the department in full. But in other states, there is so much more being done by the department on those fees and taxes that no one else wants to pay.

But a $12 a day increase by a vendor doesn't help the forests either, it only goes to the vendor. We need to take care of the forests, absolutely need to do it, and it can't be on the campers backs -- we need to protect those watershed areas in California or there will be no civilians living in the state ...

I lived in CA over thirty years - half that time in rural Sierras, and spent time hiking those forests years ago when a campsite was $2, and the forest were beautiful and the watershed lush - now, with the drought hurting it, we need even more protection - but we DON'T need vendor taking the money out of the campgrounds funding ... I'm all for paying a bit more IF and only IF it goes to protecting the forests.

Even tho' we now live in Florida, we still spend lots of time on the road, and lots of that road time in the western states. Ask me to support the forests, you get a yes, as me to support a vendor with higher fees, you get a no. Imagine what the forestry rangers could do with a $12 a night fee increase ... instead of a vendor more than likely removing that revenue from our country to another nation.