How much would you be OK with paying to visit national parks?/Canyonlands National Park vista, Rebecca Latson
How much is a national park visit worth to you? It's a question that floats to the surface from time to time when talk turns to the National Park Service's funding woes and nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog.
So, how much is too much? Instead of paying $25 or $30 per carload for a week in a park, would you be willing to pay, say, $25 or $35 per person in your car? Would you be OK with being charged a flat $100 per carload for seven days?
One-hundred-dollars per carload might seem expensive, but it also might still be a bargain, if you consider that in 1916 it cost $10 to enter Yellowstone National Park. If that $10 fee continued to rise annually with the rate of inflation, today the fee would be $244.
So, travelers, what maximum price would you place on visiting a national park? At what price point would you say, "Whoa, that's more than I can comfortably afford with my budget"?
Comments
First and foremost, all U.S. Citizens should be guarenteed one visit to every National Park Service unit at no cost or minimum. Secondly, foreign visitors should pay a premium for access and this should be regulated. (I recently visited a NP where I felt 9 of 10 people were foriegn visitors. That is overwhelming.) Thirdly, "local users" should pay significant annual fees for repeated use. Some parks are almost wholly used by locals. Fees should reflect use, just as corporate support should reflect benefits as well as impact on the U.S. environment. Finally, during the past three weeks, I visited 20 NPS units by car purchasing about $850 in gasoline. With my senior pass and other discounts my van-camping has probably averaged $25 a night so $500. I am capable of paying a similar amount for use, but again, every person should have access once without concern for fees. I must also say that having visited 259 NPS units, that the education and insight gained from our NPS units is invaluable. I do not know how to put a 'tuition' on such higher learning. Hope this makes sense. (By the way, keep the military and seniors discounts -- they earned the extra consideration.)
As others mentioned, equivalent entry fees at other theme parks approach $400.00 for a family of 4, seems like a visit to one of our major National Parks would be a bargain at $75.00 per person. The $80.00 pass I purchased for the 2018 season allowed me into southwestern destinations last year. This year we spent a week in the Smokies and the park was free. I think that those of us who use the parks should pay much more than the current rates. No less than $100.00 per vehicle, and a yearly pass should be no less than $360.00. If that seems high, then consider all the other things we value highly, and justify the cost to ourselves. The current load of visitors to the parks is not sustainable, a higher use fee will encourage fewer impromptu visits, less damage, and greater conservation for my children and their children's visits to the Nations public resources in decades to come. Public does not equate to free, and most things which are free or low in cost are generally worth about just that.
We went to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Little Big Horn this summer. I would gladly pay more for entry for a season pass no problem and since we knew we were going to see all three it made sense. Plus we went in and out of Yellowstone 3 different but nto consecutive days. I like the idea of $25 -30 per head for day entry. Per car not is fair as RV can hold more people, I saw up to ten getting out of one and it many children. Those tour buses should not be allowed or pay way more. They also get easy in and out bus parking and cars wait and wait for a space and then we deal with even more crowds when they offload. I don't mind the passenger vans for touring companies but these buses are ridiculous. There aren't enough restrooms at trailheads because you have lines of people getting off or on a bus coming in and out. Just saying I was thankful we knew our way around the park and where to go to escape the tours. We don't want to make it affordable for families but prices can go up for all that our National Parks give back to us in beauty and amazement.
I take my family when I go but they would rather be somewhere else if I ask them. And you can't compare it to Disney, it's not an amusement park. I paid more because there's no other choice but I been there only twice. That being said, I will pay $25 per vehicle if going alone and nothing over $50 if there's 4 or more per vehicle. For tour buses, that's another story, I would pay $10 per person if I'm in a bus. Tour operators can arrange that ahead of time.
i do not recommend raising fees. I feel $10-$15 per day per car is adequate. We already find the parks through our tax dollars. We can't pick up wood from the ground to make a campfire, but itnisnok for a camp host to gather it and then sell it to us. We are over regulating and making it difficult to see and enjoy the wonders of our country. Soon the parks will only be for the animals and park officials. We won't be able to see them for ourselves.
$25.00 per car per day is certainly reasonable. To be honest our National Parks are a bargain at just about any rate.
Commercial tour vehicle have to pay a cost for their size. I'm kind of OK with it as one tour bus takes up less space on the roads and parking lots than 15 cars averaging 3 passengers each.
I would add that the $80 is not a "National Park Pass" per se. It's a federal recreation pass and includes entrance and sometimes parking at US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and Army Corps of Engineers fee sites. I do remember that I was planning on making a trip in December 2006 before the shift from the $50 National Parks Pass to the $80 America the Beautiful Pass. And even back then it was a $65 interagency pass or a $15 sticker to add to the National Parks Pass.
And I looked at the older Golden Age Passport that my parents each have. It strangely enough includes the Tennessee Valley Authority, which I believe operates water-based recreation around dams as well as campgrounds and day use areas.