That's 50-odd pounds! Wow, that's insane and to make it so high during the holidays as well. If the goal is to eliminate visitors to parks, you've succeeded.
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Trump administration proposes $70 entrance fee for national parks
- Thread starter Saya
- Start date
Again, you and your family can visit ALL National Parks and National Monuments for a year for just 80$, and the visitor numbers have been on an incredible rise over the course of the last ten years or so. If anything, it will slow the growth down a bit for the most popular ones but even that seems unlikely considering the America the Beautiful pass option.
NPS said:
That's not the goal here with a price increase of this magnitude.
It would be an increase from about $30 to 70$ per family / vehicle for 17 of the most popular parks during peak season, with the 80$ pass still an option. What's the goal then?
How?
Yeah it's a shame these places don't get the attention they deserve, but I'm kinda glad I go to lesser known parks to avoid crowds. I can't imagine dealing with what you're talking about.
Half the reason to go for me is the solitude.
But all in all $80 for a year family pass is not bad at all, it's just not gonna make up for the budget cuts so things will still be neglected in places.
A transparent attempt to drive down attendance, allowing them to sell off public park land, which they're already in the process of of cataloging for the purpose.
Remove restrictions on all national monument parks for oil..granted.
Trump and his administration and the GOP are destroying nature as we know it. They already removed so many rules and acts just for profit. Trump gave an OK to mine and drill in national parks.
It's really just incredible how Trump will always find a way to make America worse, no matter how deep he has to look to come up with something.
I expect next a tariff that targets the peanut butter used in Reeses.
I expect next a tariff that targets the peanut butter used in Reeses.
Sheeeeeeeet. I can look around and find better prices for day pass to Disney Land. I'll go to California Adventure instead.
Just another shitty idea to add to the list.
Canada's so much more forward thinking and progressive when it comes to the way it handles its National Parks. And I can actually take my dogs hiking in the back country up there as long as I'm responsible and treat the environment and other people like any well adjusted human being should do in the first place.
Canada's so much more forward thinking and progressive when it comes to the way it handles its National Parks. And I can actually take my dogs hiking in the back country up there as long as I'm responsible and treat the environment and other people like any well adjusted human being should do in the first place.
Parks like Disney increase their prices all the time. If people are going to Vegas and then decided to go to the Grand Canyon I doubt the increase will stop them.
That being said.. I sure as hell wouldn't pay $70.
how can you equate a private theme park or casinos with "public" national parks?
Simple. If people are planning a vacation they will put aside the money to visit these places.
This is the type of conversation I hope stayed at the other place. I'm out.
lol really? One post questions yours and you peace out? Well, bye.
won't they simply just change their plans and go somewhere cheaper? or maybe even reconsider the trip altogether?
it's just going to pull money away from these parks
Then why not express what you mean in more detail? Because that's what the poster wanted. They asked you a question.
I thought we weren't supposed to talk about that other place.
anyway, you already pay taxes for public services. Sounds like a bum deal that you pay so much tax but get your services reduced or outright cut
I would rather they kept the parks closed more than raise the ticket prices. Like have them open for a season or 6 months and then closed the rest of the time. That way you don't have a lot of foot traffic, you keep the park pristine and you also don't price out those people who can't or won't afford to drop $70 for a ticket. That's Walt Disney prices. National Parks should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford it every so often.
Now that's a quote one could hang on their hat.
I agree, Gwen. No fewer than 11 bobcats.
I don't think a lot of families that would struggle to afford the 80 entrance fee have enough money or vacation time to visit multiple National Parks in one year.
1) Raise prices.
2) Number of people visiting plummets.
3) Trump claims attendance is down and no one cares about the parks
4) Trump uses #3 as an excuse to open up more parks to forestry/oil/mining industries; "The extra funding generated is necessary to save the parks from closure due to mismanagement and reduced attendance! Sad! But I will save the parks! #MAGA"
2) Number of people visiting plummets.
3) Trump claims attendance is down and no one cares about the parks
4) Trump uses #3 as an excuse to open up more parks to forestry/oil/mining industries; "The extra funding generated is necessary to save the parks from closure due to mismanagement and reduced attendance! Sad! But I will save the parks! #MAGA"
Gotta make up the revenue from the decrease in international visitors somehow! Truly disgusting, these National Parks are some of our most treasured lands and this administration would rather mine and exploit them, than to have them accessible to people. National Parks should be non-profit.
The amount of overcrowding at some of the national parks during peak season is a real problem. I don't know if this in particular is the solution, but you'd imagine it'll certainly have some effect. It's something that has to be addressed regardless of the entry fee though.
I don't know if I've ever been to any national park anywhere in the country, and I'm pretty sure I am eligible for one of the free lifetime Access passes that disabled veterans can get, so it's not like the cost is keeping me away. I'm just not an outdoors-y person. I do have plans to move from the SouthEast to out west, preferably to Colorado, and I probably would want to go to some of the parks out that way, maybe take my family to some.
Tell you what though, a $70 entrance fee would keep me from going to any for pretty much ever, or until the fees came down.
Tell you what though, a $70 entrance fee would keep me from going to any for pretty much ever, or until the fees came down.
I'm not going to say it's ideal that the prices could keep some poorer families away, but the demographics don't really mesh with this idea that this is going to plummet attendance. National Park visitors are overwhelmingly homogeneous: white, educated, middle class or higher. The National Park Service is also woefully underfunded and many of the top parks are crippled by current attendance and their budget. I'm not sure what a better option is. Tax increases would unfairly burden people who can't afford or aren't exposed to these areas to begin with. A lot of the largest NPs are not in areas that you swing by with the family when you have a free afternoon. Glacier is 50 miles from the nearest reasonably sized city, Zion is on the other side of the state from SLC and most of the other Utah destinations. Not many families are skimping to get the budget together to go to these places, and their local parks aren't subject to these fee increases.
But they will struggle with those extra 40$? Then why not visit outside of peak season when it's cheaper? Or one of the 400 parks that doesn't increase the fee? Or a State Park? Or on one of the roughly 10 free entrance days each year?
I get why people are cynical with everything this administration does, I am, but all the "this is 4D chess to sell off the land" is ridiculous, when you see a) how much the NPS is struggling and b) when the fee increase is only aimed at 17 of the most popular parks during peak season. Parks like Grand Staircase-Escalante are in danger, those 17 are certainly not.
Again, attendance in some parks has tripled over the last ten years or so, while funding has been remained the same even got cut at the same time. Increasing fees alone definitely isn't the perfect solution to the problem, but there is a problem, it's not made up. I'm not even sure why people think this comes directly from Trump, the NPS has been talking about considering all kinds of options for years. They are even implementing / trying out reservations for basic stuff like parking and shuttle usage in Yosemite and Zion because they are so underfunded and overcrowded from May through September.
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