Proposed Fee Increase for Crater Lake National Park Tabled

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on September 27, 2007 - 5:34pm

National Park Service officials have agreed to table a proposed entrance fee increase at Crater Lake National Park. NPS Photo.

Local opposition to a proposed doubling in entrance fees at Crater Lake National Park apparently has worked.

When National Park Service officials announced plans to boost the entrance fee to $20 beginning this coming January, there was an outcry in Oregon, where politicians said it didn't make sense for the Park Service to be boosting entrance fees at the same time there was a decline in visitation.

Now there's word that the Park Service has agreed to forget about boosting the cost to enter Crater Lake.

U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio, one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed increase, has said the Interior Department should boost funding for the national park system not on the backs of visitors but rather by "collecting the royalties that oil companies owe the United States."

Earlier this summer Park Service Director Mary Bomar agreed to postpone an increase in the entrance fees at Yosemite, which goes to show you that speaking up can make a difference.

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Comments

Submitted by Frank on September 27, 2007 - 6:23pm.

Thank you, Kurt, for this update.

I'm one of the Oregonians who wrote in protesting the increase, and for once, as Kurt has stated, I feel that speaking up has made a difference. This, along with YOSE, shows that the NPS is not completely deaf to the public.

Is there any word on the SEKI fee increase? It would be interesting to know if there is a larger trend at work here.

Submitted by jersu on September 28, 2007 - 10:27am.

Looks like the fee to enter Lava Beds will remain at $10, as a result of the same southern Oregon opposition to the Crater Lake fees. It had been proposed that the Lava Beds fee go to $15.