Enjoying this view of Hallet Peak will cost a bit more for many Rocky Mountain National Park visitors after October 1/Kurt Repanshek
Perhaps in a nod to Rocky Mountain National Park's centennial celebration this year, park officials are raising entrance fees, but not until October 1, with higher camping fees arriving in 2016.
On October 1 the fees to get into Rocky Mountain will go up a bit to help fund maintenance and improvement projects within the park. Because of Rocky's proximity to the populated Colorado Front Range, the park will be adding a single day pass to the existing option of fees. This 'Day Use Pass' will be $20, while the weekly pass will increase to $30 for those visitors who intend to enjoy the park for multiple days. The annual park pass will increase to $50 and eventually increase to $60 by 2017. Campground fees will increase to $26 a night in 2016. Campground fees are based on comparable fees for similar services in nearby campgrounds.
'We are committed to keeping Rocky Mountain National Park affordable and we also want to provide visitors with the best possible experience,' said Superintendent Vaughn Baker. 'We feel this modest fee increase is still an incredible value when considering other family and recreational experiences one can enjoy. Plus, 80 percent of those funds stay right here in Rocky to benefit visitors. As we celebrate Rocky's Centennial, these funds will be critical as we move forward into the next 100 years.'
While basic operations of the park are funded by direct appropriations from Congress, the fee program is intended to provide for various enhancements to visitor services and facilities.
Entrance fees have supported a wide range of projects that improve the park and visitor experiences, including renovating all campground restroom facilities, rehabilitating and maintaining approximately 100 of the park's 350 miles of trails, replacing trailhead signs, replacing picnic tables throughout the park, mitigating hazard trees in or near park facilities such as campgrounds, parking lots, road corridors and visitor centers, and operating the park's visitor shuttle bus system.
In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. Rocky Mountain National Park staff solicited public input beginning in October 2014. During the public comment period, the park received 95 formal comments that were related to the park's proposed fee changes. Based on comments received, there was significantly more support for the proposed fee rate changes than opposed, according to park officials. They said park visitors seem to be highly supportive of fees in general and making the connection with the park's effort in providing tangible benefits to visitors through fee revenue.
The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act is the legislation under which the park currently collects entrance and amenity fees. This law allows parks to retain 80 percent of the fees collected for use on projects that directly benefit visitors. The remaining 20 percent is distributed throughout the National Park System. Since the beginning of FLREA and its predecessor program Fee Demo, the park has spent over $66 million in repairs, renovations, improvements and resource restoration.
In January 2005, Rocky Mountain National Park was the last of the larger size parks in the Intermountain Region to adopt the $20 per vehicle weekly rate. That same year the annual pass increased to $35, and to $40 in 2009, the last year of any increase in fees.
Comments
Nice to see they are implementing a single day option.
But is it priced correctly?
Not sure how one would determine "correctness" in this case. Is the 7 day pass priced "correctly"? I just appreciate that they recognize someone there for a day isn't going to use as much infrastructure as someone there for a week.
Using 2005 as the base and applying the CPI inflation index to the $25 annual fee, it should only be $30.29 today. Yes, I know all the arguments, was the fee in 2005 correct, things are different today etc. but it does give a frame of reference to the magnitude of these increases. And if $25 wasn't correct when they raised it in 2005 is it correct now? I have no way of knowing how well the NPS budgets or uses the dollars it receives. I do know how difficult it is to get a realistic budget, the temptations to pad it, that it is easy to spend money and much harder to find ways to save it. Those problems get greatly magnified in government agencies and the larger the entity the worse it gets. As for the camping fees being “based on comparable fees for similar services in nearby campgrounds.” I would like to know if that includes private campgrounds that are operating for profit. I will always be a huge fan of the parks but am growing more and more skeptical that they are managing them efficiently. I also long for the days when one could visit the park without making reservations a year in advance, not have to even think about traffic in the park much less worry about finding a parking spot. I don't doubt that through some of these improvements the NPS has exposed the outdoors to more people but what experience are they getting?
re: "As for the camping fees being “based on comparable fees for similar services in nearby campgrounds.” I would like to know if that includes private campgrounds that are operating for profit."
This is an excellent question, and may be the reason the fee for park campgrounds seems pretty high to me. It's been 25 years since I was involved with park campgrounds, but I do recall being assigned at one time to do a survey of fees at nearby private (for profit) campgrounds as part of a review of fees in the park. My impression was the purpose was to keep the park from undercutting the potential income for those private operations by offering camping in the park at lower rates for similar services. Since not many NPS campgrounds offer hot showers, full RV hookups, etc. figuring out a "comparable rate" for park vs. nearby private campgrounds can be pretty tricky.
I don't know if this "comparable rates" concept is an official NPS policy, regulation, congressional mandate, etc. A quick Google search failed to find an answer. Perhaps another Traveler user has the answer.
The yearly inflation rate, of an annual parks pass, from 2005-2009 is 3.4 percent. The inflation is similar from 2009-2015 at 3.8 percent. The rate increase spirals skyward, in the 2 year period from 2015-2017, at 9.5 percent. Taking the years between 2009-2017, yearly inflation of an annual pass, is 5.2 percent. 2009 is the year the Federal Reserve opened the flood gates with a river of liquidity. Since 2009, the national inflation rate, measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has floated around 1 percent. The Park Service can't operate to this manipulated inflation figure, so it tries to hold to past inflation increases, but can not. 5.2 percent yearly inflation matches the inflationary increase experienced by the average American, since the fed bailout -- a restaurant dinner, college tuition, a day at Disneyland, price of a mid size car, and the minimum wage increase at Walmart (by 2016). Welcome to the land of inflation; take only pictures, leave only money.