INCREASES FAR GREATER THAN THE CPI

National Parks Plan Big Fee Increases

By Bill Schneider, 3-26-07

The federal government has a financial plan for the national parks, but they didn’t want to release it to the public the agency serves. Instead, a few concerned citizens have to wade through the laborious process of obtaining documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

Now that Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness and friends did the digging for us, we know what many of us have suspected all along. The National Park Service (NPS) has a multi-year plan to keep raising fees. About 60 percent (88 of 147) of our parks and monuments have scheduled fee increases this year or in 2008. Most of the rest plan an increase for 2009.

In the end, many parks will double or even triple fees. And who says inflation is only 2.5 percent?

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by the incremental, “water torture” treatment. Private businesses do it all the time, raising prices an inch at a time to keep customers from revolting. Ditto for the U.S. Postal Service. But somehow it seems like Our National Park Service should be more forthcoming.

“Why hasn’t the NPS simply come right out and explained to the media, and thus to the American People, what they are doing?” asks Silver. “Why are they dragging this thing out and feeding us the bad news one tiny bite at a time?”

You can find out how much you’ll be paying at your favorite national park or monument by clicking here, but it’s clear that most major national parks in the New West have a little “collusion” plan underway. Big parks like Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Zion, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton and others will all raise annual fees to $50, per-vehicle fees to $25 and per-person fees to $12 by 2009. Smaller parks usually charge smaller fees, but almost all of them plan sizeable increases.

According to Silver, the NPS has had this organized fee increase plan underway since 2001 and based it on a “fee analysis was performed for the agency by private contractors.”

You have to wonder when these ever-increasing fees reach the point of diminishing returns, where fees raise less money instead of more because most people won’t be able to afford to even see their national parks.

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