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NPCA, NPHA Want National Park Service To Raise Entrance Fees To Parks

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A coalition led by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Hospitality Association is asking National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis to increase entrance fees in parks that now charge them, and to expand such fees into parks that don't have them.

Doing so, they argue, would provide the Park Service with greater revenues as the agency moves into its second century beginning in 2016. 

In a letter sent to the director earlier this month, the groups urge Director Jarvis to implement proposals outlined earlier this year at a conference they organized in Washington.

Also supporting the call for higher fees are the American Hiking Society, theŽ American Recreation Coalition, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, theŽ National Tour Association, theŽ Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association, theŽ Recreation Vehicle Industry Association, theŽ Southeast Tourism Society, and the Western States Tourism Policy Council.

The proposal goes beyond simply raising or instituting entrance fees. It also asks the Park Service to consider allowing:

* Tour operators to increase their fees;

* Fees to be boosted during the high seasons;

* Daily entrance fees, as opposed to the current weekly approach, and;

* An "international visitor" package that would include a short-term entrance pass as well as "maps, services available on mobile devices and other park information and would have special souvenir value."

Under the heading of GREAT PARK EXPERIENCES & SUSTAINABLE FUNDING, the groups made the following suggestions to the director:

The National Park Service has a unique opportunity to make some important changes in its park visitor fee structure that would result in significantly increased revenue for the national park system in its next 100 years while enhancing the park visitor experience. Currently, NPS collects entrance fees, recreation use fees, transportation fees and other special fees under a variety of legal authorities, including the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004. The changes below could be done under existing authorities.

NPS should adopt a Centennial park fee program with two goals: (1) increased revenue for park operations that will enhance the National Park Service’s capacity to serve the visitor; and (2) a program that allows visitors to continue to enjoy the parks at a reasonable cost.

Some important ideas to consider include:

* A “dynamic” fee structure that (1) provides for higher fees during heavy visitation periods and reduced entrance, campground, backcountry and other user fees when parks are less visited; and (2) creates seasonal and shorter-duration passes for targeted groups, such as an international visitor pass that could include maps, services available on mobile devices and other park information and would have special souvenir value.

* Implementing individual park entrance fees at the level the National Park Service has already established for different park classifications, and modifying those fees at appropriate intervals

* Considering expanding the number of reduced fee days and free days to encourage park use by people qualifying for federal assistance programs

* Assessing alternatives to the current “carload” pricing, including charging per person fees for each adult after the first two adults in a vehicle, and consideration of charging per day fees.

* Reducing the volunteer hours required to receive a single park entrance pass, and accelerate earning of passes through volunteer efforts at parks unable to collect fees

* Reviewing park units not now collecting fees to determine whether there should be additional units with entrance and related fees for all or portions of the year, using technology to reduce collection costs and add convenience for visitors

* Increasing vital services to visitors served by tour operators to be offset by appropriate fees with adequate planning notice before implementation

Comments

Lee,

I'm with you. I see a great entitlement mentality at work here. It is the attitude of NPS and retired NPS employees advocating that the taxpaying public continue to pay additional fees to fund some retired NPS pensions. Talk about entitlement and lack of responsiveness to "customers". It is definitely embodied here. Just like the smokies where backpacking is down so they institute a fee to ensure it stays down. NPS logic is like military intelligence.


Yep, Smokiesbackpacker, those park entrance fees go directly to fund retired NPS employees' pensions. What a crock! 80% of entrance fees are retained in the park that collects the fees. The other 20% is divided among parks that cannot, for one reason or another, collect fees. I understand that you are not in favor of the new backcountry camping fee in the Smokies. That is a legitimate position. But let's not make things up to bolster your argument.

Rick


We park users and park volunteers have a right to protest increasing fees in the NPS despite what you park employees think. The National Parks belong to the people and they are fed up with a bureaucracy that cannot live within their means like everyone else in the United States. Entrance and park fees decrease park usage. That is well documented in studies. To listen to you NPS folks, you would have us think that fees are the cure all for everything. You can spout all the NPS propoganda you want but in the end, the public, aka park users and non park employees, are tired of it. Jarvis was busted when he got caught telling his folks to "make the public' feel the pain of the sequester. That is the NPS culture with which taxpayers are fed up. These groups that are dependent upon the NPS for their bread and butter do no service to the general public either by serving as propogandists for this ever growing bureaucracy. When a park Superintendent makes half of what the president of the Unites States makes, something is wrong with the system.



"Entrance and park fees decrease park usage. That is well documented in studies."

/2013/06/memorial-day-weekend-brought-record-crowds-wind-cave-bryce-canyon-national-parks23402

Hmmm. I would like to see those studies. From everything I read, park visitation is up year over year.


One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the quality of the people who wear the uniforms of the National Park Service -- whether they be maintenance workers, rangers, or volunteers. There is no finer bunch of folks anywhere on this dizzy old planet! Lee Dalton, retired NPS official.


Smokies, your imagination is working overtime again. I am NOT a "retired NPS official."

I will also stand firmly behind the statement I made in an earlier Traveler article.

And finally, do you REALLY think anyone will be foolish enough to take seriously a "study" done by an organization that has NO FEE in their name? That would be as silly as believing any propaganda laid out by Americans For Prosperity or other similar predatory gangs.

If you wish to continue pouting, have at it. As for me, I'll go enjoy the world without feeling that I'm entitled to receive all the services I desire while objecting to paying for them. I don't belong to the Tea Party.


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