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Backcountry Fees Going Up At Rocky Mountain National Park

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Overnight trips into the heart and soul of Rocky Mountain National Park is going to cost backcountry travelers a bit more beginning this summer/Kurt Repanshek

It's going to cost you a little bit more to head into the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park for overnight stays beginning this summer, when the permit fee climbs from $20 to $26 per trip.

Park officials say the fee, established in 1995 and last increased to $20 in 2004, is necessary to recover the administrative costs associated with managing the program, including costs of a computerized permit and reservation system.  

The permits, good for up to seven backpackers, are seen as an integral part of a program that rations and distributes use throughout the park'™s backcountry. It's intended to minimize impacts to resources, help provide a quality experience, and ensure that sites are available for those able to plan ahead and reserve a permit in advance.  While an overnight permit is required for backcountry camping year-round, the fee for obtaining the permit only applies for camping that occurs during the months of May through October when demand typically exceeds availability in many areas of the park'™s backcountry.  The six dollar increase for the non-refundable permit becomes effective March 1, for anyone making advance reservations or after May 1, for those obtaining a permit over the counter at one of the park'™s Backcountry Offices.

Different from an entrance fee or fee for camping in a developed campground, the backcountry permit is based on cost recovery and all funds are applied directly to the costs of administering the program. This past October, the park proposed a change in its current recreational use fees for entrance and developed campgrounds.  A public comment period followed and the proposal is still under review.  A decision on those recreational use fees is expected late winter or early spring.

According to Superintendent Vaughn Baker, 'œRocky Mountain National Park retains 100 percent of the administrative fees charged for backcountry camping permits.  In addition to providing the opportunity to reserve and secure campsites in advance, funds recovered through the permit fee allow for staff to provide trip planning advice and information for a safe and enjoyable trip into the wilderness.  Requirements for food storage necessary to protect bears and other wildlife, mountain weather, hazards, and Leave No Trace ethics are among the information received during the permitting process. Fees that we charge enable us to provide these services.' 

Comments

Thanks to American taxpayers for increasing the NPS budget to the tune of half a billion dollars of your hard hearned money.  As a token of our appreciation, we bring you an increase in fees to use this public lands for which you have the privilege of being doubly taxed.  


Thanks to rmackie for expressing the offensive side to charging to hike. I wish more folks would stand up and say the same that had a career like yours. I believe there are many who currently work for the NPS but are afraid to voice their thoughts for fear of losing their job. In your reference to future proposals on fees we have already seen the grab in the Smokies. Right after the backpacking fee went into effect, the NPS made you get a backpacking permit to watch the synchronous fireflies near the Elkmont front country campground. This is a drive up and watch.

One of the problems with the NPS, they are always asking for more, so they have more to manage. If we had a leader at the top that understood accountablility, and how to manage with what you have, the Parks would be so much better. Maybe in the future they can learn to live within their own means otherwise our parks may be in for a rude awakening. I have paid my taxes for years, but to be double taxed to backpack in any National Park is just wrong!


But isn't this exactly what the people who scream for tax cuts and smaller government want?  Isn't this part of the mantra of "personal responsibility?"  Isn't someone who uses national park facilities or services guilty of the same sort of socialistic entitlement as one who uses food stamps or medicaid?


Lets stop raising fees to visit our National Parks. Every day I read another article about more and higher fees. We are pricing the American people out of our parks. What ever happened to the idea that the parks belong to all of the American people whether they have the money to pay these entrance fees or not. 

I salute the people who protest these increasing fees and force the NPS to back down.

Our parks belong to the people of America. We have paid for them and continue to pay for them through our taxes. Let us stop this insane policy of charging more and more to visit parks we already own. 

I think the best present the Congress could give to the American people in 2016 is to abolish all park entrance fees. 

 

 


No more fees.


While an overnight permit is required for backcountry camping year-round, the fee for obtaining the permit only applies for camping that occurs during the months of May through October when demand typically exceeds availability in many areas of the park’s backcountry.

The summer/fall months when the flowers are most beautiful, the weather is most benign, and people of ordinary abilities are most likely to have a safe and enjoyable trip that's within their abilities - sorry, those months are reserved for those able and willing to pay.

Saying this is a cost recovery fee is entirely bogus. It doesn't cost any more to issue a permit in the winter than it does the summer. This is purely Econ 101 - Supply and Demand, charge as much as the market will bear. The public lands agencies (NPS, BLM, USFS) have lost their public service mission and become mere merchants. Shame on them.


The notion that a $25 fee is pricing anyone out of the parks is just absurd.  Yes the parks belong to the American people but that doesn't mean the people that use them shouldn't pay for the incremental amenities and costs of use. 


Very interesting discussion, fees are a complicated issue, I support some fees, as EC points out, nothing is free. On the other hand, and it certainly does not make me right on the issue, fees are really beginning to be stacked up on citizens. It is a form of regressive taxation. I think much of this is a result of our failure to equitably and progressively (based on income and wealth), tax ourselves to maintain the functions of government that our important to all of us. National defense, education, research and development, police and fire protection, well the list is endless. It is disturbing to see the tax breaks pushed for those who already control a large % of the wealth of the nation and then impose more and more fees on those least able to pay them. Getting off subject here, but I just do not feel people should be charged to hike and camp in our wilderness areas. Just a bias I have.  


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