National Park fee increase possible
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 maintenan...
Forum Discussion
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.
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.
