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ACTION: Zinke's Department of Interior Seeks to Triple Fees To Enter OUR National Parks
Smart Dissent has discussed Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on a few occasions including: here, here, and here. Zinke is in charge of our beloved National Parks, not to mention offshore drilling.
America's national parks are enormously popular. Last year, the parks attracted a record 331 million visitors — a 7.7 percent increase over 2015.
In late October, he announced a proposal to nearly triple fees to enter certain National Parks.
The National Park Service has announced a proposal to more than double the peak-season entrance fees at the country's busiest national parks, including Shenandoah, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.... the announcement has been met with worries that higher prices will push the parks out of reach for many Americans.
The rate hike would affect the 17 national parks that already drive the most revenue. Those sites, which stretch from Denali in Alaska to Acadia in Maine, generate 70 percent of all park entrance fees. Most national parks are free to enter: Of the 417 total NPS sites, only 118 charge admission fees.
The proposed rates would significantly increase the costs to enter the parks during their busiest months. Entry at these parks currently costs $25 or $30 per vehicle, no matter the season. Under the new rates, entrance would cost $70 per vehicle during a five-month peak season. Per-person entry fees, $10-$15 at the current rate, would rise to $30 during peak season.
Let your representatives hear from you about this. Public comments are open until November 23rd -- CLICK HERE.
Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana, a state that's home to two of the affected parks, encouraged the public to weigh in on the proposal. "Americans already own these parks and they shouldn't have to empty their wallets to enjoy them," Tester told the Flathead Beacon. "Glacier and Yellowstone should be accessible to all of us. This decision will price Montana families out of our public lands, and hurt local economies, which thrive thanks to our National Parks."
"The enormity of the increases exceeds any increases in the history of the National Park Service," said Maureen Finnerty, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks...
The proposed savage budget cuts by Trump and Congress are directly related to the need to raise more money from park visitors.
...the Trump administration's budget proposal calls for significant cuts to the park service in 2018, decreasing its funding by $296.6 million compared with this year. The budget also anticipates a smaller staff for the park service next year: 18,268 full-time employees, down 1,242 from 2017.