would you pay $41 to enter a National Park?

[tsetsaf]

I am calling BS on this story. Read it and the implication is that folks would be okay with an 80% increase in entrance fees if it ensured they would see a bear Article

[tsetsaf]

chiefneon wrote:
Howdy!

We're in Colorado and visited Pikes Peck the other day. As you pull up to the gate entrance there is a large US Forest Service sign so I handed my National parks senior pass to the ranger. I was advised the pass was not excepted there. When I pointed out the sign to the ranger and stated it should be covered under the US Forest Service with my pass, I was advised the $24.00 ($12.00 per person) was a toll to us the roadway. I would think if it was a toll to use the roadway it should have been by the vehicle not by how many persons were inside the vehicle. Been to a lot of park across the country and first time we've been charged a toll fee to drive on the roadway.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

Yep that road has a fee. There is a free way up... just requires hiking boots, a horse, or a mountain bike.

Someone mentioned Rushmoore... that place irks me too. There is free parking to the north but there are only 4 spots.

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

We're in Colorado and visited Pikes Peck the other day. As you pull up to the gate entrance there is a large US Forest Service sign so I handed my National parks senior pass to the ranger. I was advised the pass was not excepted there. When I pointed out the sign to the ranger and stated it should be covered under the US Forest Service with my pass, I was advised the $24.00 ($12.00 per person) was a toll to us the roadway. I would think if it was a toll to use the roadway it should have been by the vehicle not by how many persons were inside the vehicle. Been to a lot of park across the country and first time we've been charged a toll fee to drive on the roadway.

"Happy Trails"
Chiefneon

[Greydog_1]

Feel robbed every time I hear of a new fee. Just plain greed. New fees are not needed in any park. Enough is made with parking fee and gate fees. You also pay taxes each year to assist the NPS.I bet there is taxes for State and County in there also.So pass fees and taxes should do a lot.

[dave54]

tsetsaf wrote:
I am calling BS on this story. Read it and the implication is that folks would be okay with an 80% increase in entrance fees if it ensured they would see a bear Article

It is BS. The researchers used an outmoded and unreliable survey method: "How much would you be willing to pay?" question.

That method yields unrealistically high values and is no longer considered statistically valid. I am surprised a peer reviewed journal accepted it for publication.

[time2roll]

Just paid $80 for an annual pass. Big whoop.
People might appreciate the parks more if they understand the costs.

[mileshuff]

Just take a drive thru Bearazona in Williams, AZ. You'll see bears along the road every time. It's less than $41.

[whistlebritches]

When we went to Mt. Rushmore in 2004, we could get in with our Golden Age Passport. This year to get around letting people in with that, they don't charge to get in, but charge $11 to park. New way to stop seniors from being able to use them.

[Harvey51]

I see Parks Canada receives 600 million dollars per year in government funding so the fees must fall well short of the costs in Canada. I think our fees here are higher than in the US. I get an annual pass every year although we usually only get to Jasper once. I see it as a good cause and pay with pleasure. When I found there was no water tap available to fill RV tanks in winter, I offered to pay for one to be installed but the park declined my offer. I see a lot of work going on there this summer so maybe this service will be added. Costs must be great for setting up and maintaining campsite services, policing, animal protection, road works and so on. We need these parks well taken care of.

[Tom_N]

If you want to see bears, go to any dump in Canada.

[coolbreeze01]

The cheating continues because we allow it. Vote out the crooks.

[monkey44]

That article is "HOGWASH", and only because I can't use the word it really is.

But, the real danger for the parks is Washington itself, closing the parks last year during the "budget crisis" ... we were kicked out of the parks when they closed, and it was a true tragedy for the folks that came on a vacation planned for months, sometimes years.

Private contractors run some parks, and in our experience with over fifty years of camping, the ones they do are run poorly, and less maintained. In addition, they stick a power pier up on a campground WE built with our tax money, and disallow the 'discount' for the electric sites now. And it's only going to get worse, not better.

Pretty much an annual discussion now is attempting to 'remove' the park passes and ATB passes discount ... when that happens, the burden of fees increase falls directly on ONE group. IF the parks raises fees, let it be for everyone a small amount instead of one group taking a 50% hit all at once. If all entry fees were raised $2-$3 that would do it, instead one group pays, and that reduction in discount goes directly into profit coffers for the vendors.

[K3WE]

Johno02 wrote:
If you are not aware of it, the fees for National Parks access goes directly to Washington and into the general budget. Meanwhile, the budget for National Parks is being cut more and more...

@#%@#~!

Parks cost money, and there's too many free rides in the USA, so I can live with "pay to play"...

Of course, there's that other problem you highlight that there's so much budget shuffling so that we aren't paying to play, but to give other folks I-phones...(sorry, that's probably a touch over the political line- but it's pretty much both parties- our government is robbing Peter to pay Paul.)

And with the post above acknowledged- that maybe the money stays in the park- but nevertheless, the budget still get's shuffled with the bottom line being....

[DownTheAvenue]

3oaks wrote:
If all the National Park fees and money raised inside of the parks stayed with the parks, there wouldn't be a need to raise the entrance fees and at the same time the parks would be better maintained. The biggest problem being that most of the money that the parks themselves generate goes back to Washington D.C. and squandered on other budget items. :M

Actually, the money raised at a park stays at that park. None of it goes to Washington. Now, the National park Service can defer some of their funding from going to a park that has an admission fee, but that is a different issue.

[rfryer]

Remember the old days in Yellowstone when bears were common along the roads and people created traffic jams stopping and feeding them from their cars? Then the bears lost their fear of people and expected a handout and began to create problems for said people and then they complained about sharing their space with them. So they were immediately trapped and taken out and released in the boonies. So for a long time you could go to Yellowstone and never see one.

I haven’t been to Yellowstone in a few years, but I remember on some latter trips the DW saying bears in Yellowstone were just an substantiated rumor. So I talked to a ranger and rousted everyone out in the middle of the night and we went out and found bear. So it’s possible to see bear, but it’s a national park, not a petting zoo, you have to expend some effort, they’re not going to come to you. I was surprised the article said grizzles along the road were a major draw, that’s new to me. May be time for another trip.

As far as the survey goes, I wouldn’t reomtely consider paying double so some people could see a bear. And I think if grizzlies started wandering into their campsites or sharing their trail this “survey” might become obsolete very quickly.:D

[dahkota]

Johno02 wrote:
If you are not aware of it, the fees for National Parks access goes directly to Washington and into the general budget.

Completely wrong. 80% of fees stay with the park in which they were received. The rest goes to the National Park Service as a whole to be used as needed (such as in parks with no fees).

Also,it is not $25 per day per person as the article states. It is $25 per car for 7 days. If you have 4 people in your car, it works out to 89 cents per day per person for the entrance fee. Try to go anywhere else in the country for that.