Poll: National Park Price Hike Will Chase Away Visitors

Above, Grand Canyon National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Polls are showing that more Americans oppose a proposed entrance fee hike for 17 national parks.

According to the St. George Daily Spectrum:

More than two-thirds of Americans oppose a proposed price increase to enter popular national parks like Zion, Arches and the Grand Canyon, according to a poll released this week. 

A similar percentage, 65 percent, indicated they would be less likely to visit the parks should the fees increase, including more than 70 percent of households with incomes of less than $30,000 per year, according to the poll, which was conducted by Hart Research Associates and Chesapeake Beach Consulting on behalf of an advocacy group called the Outdoors Alliance for Kids and its various member organizations. 

The National Park Service released a plan this fall recommending that entrance fees more than double during the peak season at some of the nation's most popular parks. During roughly a five-month period at 17 different parks, the entrance fee would be $70 per vehicle, $50 per motorcycle and $30 per person on foot. The current prices at parks like Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks in Utah, where fees were last increased in 2015, are $30 per vehicle, $25 per motorcycle and $10 per individual.

The reason for the fee increase proposal is to deal with the $11 billion backlog of maintenance projects at the national parks. This backlog has been growing over many years through different administrations and congresses, Democrat and Republican. It is only now that this backlog is being addressed.

I am not in favor of the proposal. There has to be a viable alternative, whether it is starting a program of selling special bonds (like World War II war bonds) or through some other means.

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