It could be more expensive to walk the Great Island Trail in Cape Cod National Seashore under a new fee structure being proposed/NPS
Proposed entrance fees floated by Cape Cod National Seashore officials, if approved, would boost the cost of driving into the seashore in your car by one-third. The rise would be even steeper if you came in on foot or bike or on a motorcycle.
Under the schedule released by Superintendent George Price, the daily vehicle fee would increase from $15 per vehicle to $20 per vehicle. The per person daily fee would increase from $3 to $10, and the motorcycle daily fee would increase from $5 to $15, bringing fees in line with standards recommended by the National Park Service headquarters staff. Entrance fees for Cape Cod National Seashore have not increased since 2007. The fee for the seasonal Cape Cod National Seashore pass would increase from $45 per vehicle to $60 per vehicle.
"The fee program is critical to the park," said Superintendent Price. "Eighty percent of the fees collected stays in the park and goes directly into improving facilities and providing services that are important to visitors." The remaining 20% of fees collected is put into a national account to fund priority NPS projects across the country. The new beach facilities and concession at Herring Cove Beach were constructed using these national funds.
Annual interagency passes, which are honored at all federally managed land units, are not affected by the proposed fee increase and will remain at $80 for the regular pass, $10 for the lifetime Senior Pass, and free for the Access and Active-Duty Military passes.
"We are committed to keeping the park affordable, and we also want to provide visitors with the best possible experiences," Superintendent Price said. "The additional revenue from the fee increase would be used to enhance visitor services, including repair of park facilities, rehabilitation of visitor centers and cultural resources, and additional park programs and transportation services."
A 45-day public input period on the proposed fee increase opened on October 27 and runs to December 6, 2014. Feedback will be accepted via the web or via letters mailed to Cape Cod National Seashore, 99 Marconi Site Road, Wellfleet, MA 02667, Attention: Rick Moore.
The new fees could be implemented in early 2015. However, the implementation schedule may vary based on the results of the public input process. The park will develop an implementation schedule that is supportive of local communities and interested stakeholders.
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Comments
$10 per person seems kind of steep to me. With a stagnant economy and incomes, I think they shouldn't raise these fees and just make do like the rest of us. By raising these fees you'll like discourage visitors and have even less collected fees to work with.
http://time.com/3544052/brinkerhoff-biden-cheap-vacations-log-cabin/
This might explain raising fees to cover thier losses.
Beach--I was assigned to security when two US Presidents--Nixon and Carter--stayed at the very same place. This is not unique.
Rick
"Under a policy adopted in 1992, after controversy over VIPs using the cabin for vacations, the National Park Service banned purely recreational activities by federal employees at the property, restricting its use to “official purposes.”
http://time.com/3544052/brinkerhoff-biden-cheap-vacations-log-cabin/
Nixon and Carter were before the policy was in place.
The National Fee Service Strikes Again. It must have something to do with the NPS seeing the end of the year and anticipating some regulating from congress. So they are charging like a housewife on crack.