The visitor center at Scotty's Castle was flooded with mud/NPS
Repercussions from a massive, destructive flash flood that tore through Death Valley National Park last October may soon be felt in visitor wallets, as the California park is proposing entrance and campground fee increases to help cover $26 million in repairs to Scotty’s Castle and its access road through Grapevine Canyon.
The seven-day entrance fee would go from $20 to $25, an annual pass from $40 to $50, and campgrounds would see increases of $2 to $6 per night. If implemented, the new fees will be effective Oct. 1. Death Valley notes that most of the fees have not changed since January 2006. Public feedback is being collected through June 29.
Scotty’s Castle and the surrounding Grapevine Canyon have been closed to all public access since a 3,200-cubic-foot-per-second flash flood on Oct. 18, 2015.That flood destroyed sections of the road, washed away the water system, destroyed the sewer system, and damaged pedestrian walkways and several historic buildings. The park plans to use park entrance fees to fund about one-third of the $26 million cost of repairing damage at Scotty’s Castle in order to be able to reopen the historic district to the public. From 2016 to 2019, about $8.7 million in fee revenue would be spent on Scotty’s Castle flood projects, including preservation of the museum collection, repairing the water system, repairing the historic gate and bridge, restoring the historic fence line, restoring the picnic area and historic landscape, and repairing water damage to Scotty’s Castle, Chimes Tower, and Fire Cache.
The road to Scotty's Castle was completely washed out by a flash flood in October/NPS
Park fees are not the only source of funds being used to restore Scotty’s Castle. The Federal Highway Administration will fund an estimated $7 million in repairs to Scotty’s Castle Road. Regional and national offices of the National Park Service will fund about $10.5 million in projects, such as restoration of the Scotty’s Castle Visitor Center (in the extensively damaged historic Garage/Longshed building), electrical repairs, Hacienda building repairs, parking lot repairs, walkway repairs, replacing HVAC systems, and constructing a flood control diversion dike.
If all funding, design, and construction happen as planned, Scotty’s Castle will fully reopen in 2019. At that point, visitors would be able to walk around the grounds on their own or take the Scotty’s Castle House Tour or Underground Tour.
In addition to the fee increases, Death Valley is considering ranger-led tours into Grapevine Canyon to Scotty’s Castle before the construction projects are completed. The tour would be two hours long, limited to groups of 15, and begin and end at Grapevine Ranger Station. Tours would be offered only when conditions are safe enough and sufficient staffing is available. Whether the tours would include entering any of the historic buildings or remain outside on the grounds of the historic district has not been determined. The park proposes to charge $32 for the tour, which would defray the costs of providing the tour. Children, Senior Passholders, and Access Passholders would be charged $16.
“With Scotty's Castle closed and many facilities impacted, this is a one-of-a-kind and spectacular opportunity to see Scotty's Castle in a different way,” Superintendent Mike Reynolds said in a release. “Through these tours, we plan to provide a safe way for visitors to learn about the history of Scotty’s Castle and to see the power of the flash flood. The flood pushed a wall off its foundation. It lifted up the road and laid it back down on top of rocks. People don’t often get to see such impressive reminders of the power of nature. It’s a good way to appreciate the geologic forces that are still creating and shaping the landscape of Death Valley.”
Park fee revenue has funded recent projects such as improvements to campgrounds, special events such as the BioBlitz in March and Celestial Centennial in April, ranger-led educational programs, printing park brochures, and upgrades to visitor use areas at Badwater, Stovepipe Wells, and Father Crowley Point. In the next few years, park fees will help fund emergency medical services, campground custodial work, and educational programs in addition to the work at Scotty’s Castle.
To comment
- Deadline: June 29, 2016
- Online: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/DEVAfee
- Mail: Death Valley National Park, ATTN: Fee Proposal, P.O. Box 579, Death Valley, CA 92328
Comments
Curious. Does the NPS not insure their buildings?
Maybe we should elect a working senate and congress that will return the funding and quit spending on subsidies to oil.
LOL Another one who has drunk the kool aid. On a net basis oil companies pay a massively higher level of taxes than the typical corporation. Or to be more accurate, the oil companies' customers pay a massively higher level of taxes.
Charging $32 for an ranger-led interpretive walk? Once that becomes the norm, how much will it cost for a map of the park or to go to the bathroom?
I seem to recall Parks Canada experimenting with this model and they had difficulties separating out what was public good (eg. maintaining or restoring natural or cultural heritage) and what was a merit or private good (eg. watching an opera in the park). How then do you determine what is free (public good) and what is charged a fee (merit or private good)?
Besides, isn't the NPS spending a lot of time and money to encourage people to Find their Park this year? In an economic sense, any price rise will discourage use. Perhaps Superintendent Reynolds didn't get the memo?
$16 for a tour of what? Empty buildings? Damaged road? I will pass. So sad about the damage, but please manage my tax dollars better and fix the more visited sections of the park first. I love Death Valley, but you have two of the worst campgrounds (embarrassing actually) in the country, Stovepipe and Sunset in Furnace Creek.
And who provided the information for this article, so many lies. The park brochure is paid for by the bookstore, not the park. What visitor upgrades have been made to Stovepipe wells? And didn't CalTrans pay for the Father Crowley and Sand Dune improvements?
Maybe you were expecting a three hour tour--but then you could get lost on a desert island. The NPS does a good job. Lucky for us Death Valley is in the United States. Maybe you would rather go visit Iraq ruins.