Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park has moved to a cashless operation/NPS file

Your cash is no good at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, which is only accepting mobile or electronic payments for entrance, camping, and permit fees. In explaining the move, the park staff says transition to electronic payment is safer, reduces transaction times, allows for reservations and prepayment, and improves accountability.

At Black Canyon, which is located in western Colorado, entrance fees, campground fees, and wilderness route permits are all available through www.recreation.gov. 

Credit and debit sales already represent as much as 95 percent of in-person sales in the park. Cash handling costs include park rangers’ time counting money, auditing collections, making bank deposits, storage of payment envelopes and files, and processing paperwork, most of which is remedied through cashless sales. 

A legal challenge to the cashless policy nationally was revived last month with an amended complaint that specified the constitutional and statutory issues that the Park Service allegedly violates with the cashless policy.

The transition to cashless payments at Black Canyon will allow the NPS to redirect cash-processing time and direct costs to other work that directly benefits park visitors, staff said. Travelers are able to pay for entrance fees, advanced reservations for camping, user fees, and more at hundreds of National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Army Corps of Engineers sites throughout the country using the Recreation.gov online service, the mobile app, and the contact center.

Black Canyon also provides travelers with the option to pay for first-come, first-serve camping opportunities through the Scan and Pay option within the Recreation.gov mobile app. To use Scan and Pay in lieu of other traditional forms of payment for first-come, first-come camping fees, visitors must first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app. After downloading the app and creating an account, simply scan the QR code at the campground to complete the payment.

No signal, no problem. Even in remote areas with no mobile service, scan and pay allows visitors to pay offline and then process transactions once back online. A temporary confirmation ID is provided for verification. For additional information on how to use the Scan and Pay option, please visit  Recreation.gov (video tutorial) . 

Western National Parks Association (WNPA), the park’s cooperating association that runs the park store in the South Rim Visitor Center, has already moved to cashless operations. Partial proceeds from purchases assist park operations with education and interpretation efforts. 

In the pending legal case, the updated filing pointed out that the general counsel for the Internal Revenue Service advised the agency that it must "accept cash for payment citing the very law defendants continue to violate. Plaintiff simply asks this court to uphold it and re-establish plaintiff's right to tender government currency at Hyde Park or any other national park."