Beginning next year, this view of Mount Rainier from the Wonderland Trail may cost you more. A National Park Service proposal would increase the entrance fees at 17 national parks, including Rainier and Olympic national parks, to $70 a vehicle from the current $25 fee. (Jessi Loerch/Herald file photo)

Beginning next year, this view of Mount Rainier from the Wonderland Trail may cost you more. A National Park Service proposal would increase the entrance fees at 17 national parks, including Rainier and Olympic national parks, to $70 a vehicle from the current $25 fee. (Jessi Loerch/Herald file photo)

Editorial: Fee increase would do little to aid national parks

But an act in Congress would allocate needed funds for 30 years. And it won’t cost taxpayers a dime.

By The Herald Editorial Board

This land is your land — but it could cost you a lot more to visit next year.

The National Park Service, facing an $11 billion to $12 billion backlog in maintenance at its parks — and the likelihood of budget cuts by the Trump administration and Congress — last week proposed significant fee increases at 17 of the system’s most popular parks.

Fees at the 17 parks, including Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Washington state’s Rainier and Olympic national parks, would see Uber-like “surge pricing” for five-month stretches during their most popular seasons, with entrance fees increasing from the current $25 per vehicle to $70.

Of the more than 400 national parks in the nation, the 17 identified for park entrance fee increases account for about 70 percent of all entrance fee revenue for the park system.

The need for additional revenue to begin to address a long-festering maintenance backlog is inarguable. The parks service has seen record-setting attendance each year for several years, hitting nearly 331 million visits in 2016, for the National Parks’ centennial. At the same time that we’ve been “loving our parks to death,” Congress has largely ignored pleas for more funding and this year proposed further budget cuts. The Trump administration sought to reduce the parks budget by a debilitating 85 percent, while Republicans in the House proposed cutting the parks budget by a third.

The National Park Service can’t do Congress’ job and adopt its own budget, but it can increase its fees. But the proposed fee increases — along with system-wide increases for other fees, including camping and backcountry passes — threaten to make the national parks less accessible to many Americans.

“We should not increase fees to such a degree as to make these places — protected for all Americans to experience — unaffordable for some families to visit,” said Teresa Pierno, chief executive of the National Parks Conservation Association, The New York Times reported.

Compared to Disneyland tickets, $70 a carload can sound like a relative bargain, but our nation’s national and state parks have always provided a refuge of affordable vacations for families, particularly those who can’t afford airline tickets and resorts. A near-tripling of the entrance fee and increases of other park fees would force many families to forego that vacation option.

And the fee increase wouldn’t allow the park service to put a significant dent in needed maintenance. According to park service estimates, the increase would generate about $68 million to $70 million additional each year over the $200 million the park service currently collects in fee revenue. And only 20 percent of those funds would be available to parks outside the 17 where the fee increase would be charged, offering little in maintenance funding to the nation’s 400 other parks.

What could begin to rehabilitate and save our parks, instead, is legislation introduced earlier this year in both the House and Senate that would set aside money for park maintenance, and not a penny of it directly from the taxpayer.

The National Parks Service Legacy Act would use funds collected from royalties from off-shore oil and gas fields. The legislation is similar to a program, shepherded through Congress by Everett’s Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson in 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides funding for creation and enhancement of parks and public lands and protection of natural resources.

The legacy act — which has bipartisan support, including Washington state co-sponsors Reps. Derek Kilmer and Suzan DelBene in the House and Sen. Patty Murray in the Senatewould allocate $50 million for the park service for its first three years, but ramp that up to $150 million for the next three, $250 million for the following three years and then $500 million each year from 2027 through 2047.

Importantly, the parks legacy act would not cut into funding for the conservation fund. The recent history of the conservation fund, however, shows that the novel funding mechanism isn’t always foolproof when Congress is involved.

Successful for 50 years, the conservation fund’s reauthorization, in its long history usually a sure bet for renewal, was allowed to lapse in 2015 before it was renewed for three years at the end of that year. Even then, Congress only authorized $450 million for 2016, half of what Jackson originally intended in winning its passage in 1964. Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, joined by Murray, is again seeking permanent reauthorization for the conservation fund.

Everett’s favorite son was forward-thinking when he proposed using the nation’s natural resources to add to and enhance its legacy of parks, natural preserves and other public lands.

Congress can honor that legacy by doing the same for the nation’s national parks and love them back to life.

Comment on fee increases

The National Parks Service is taking public comment until Nov. 23 on its proposal to increase entrance fees at 17 national parks. Comment online at tinyurl.com/CommentNPSfees.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, Feb. 17

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Rivian, based in Irvine, Calif., has introduced its new R2 models, smaller and more affordable SUVs. (Rivian)
Editorial: Open electric vehicle market to direct sales

Legislation would allow EV makers to sell directly to customers, making lease or purchase easier.

Comment: No one saw Musk’s DOGE rampage coming or its threat

With no formal grant of authority, Musk is making cuts without fully understanding the consequences.

Douthat: Trump is chasing off lawyers he’ll need at some point

The deal to clear Adams serves Trump only as a way of identify whom he can consider loyal in the DOJ.

President Donald Trump listens alongside Elon Musk as he explains the administration’s cost-cutting efforts in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. Musk has for weeks posted on social media about government spending, often amplifying and seeding false information. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
Comment: This crisis can’t be left to courts alone

The courts can uphold the law, but they can’t match the speed of the executive branch in tearing down systems.

People walk adjacent to the border with Canada at the Peace Arch in Peace Arch Historical State Park, where cars behind wait to enter Canada at the border crossing Monday, Aug. 9, 2021, in Blaine, Wash. Canada lifted its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but America kept similar restrictions in place, part of a bumpy return to normalcy from coronavirus travel bans. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Editorial: U.S. and Canada better neighbors than housemates

President Trump may be serious about annexing Canada, but it’s a deal fraught with complexities for all.

CNA Nina Prigodich, right, goes through restorative exercises with long term care patient Betty Long, 86, at Nightingale's View Ridge Care Center on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Boost state Medicaid funding for long-term care

With more in need of skilled nursing and assisted-living services, funding must keep up to retain staff.

bar graph, pie chart and diagrams isolated on white, 3d illustration
Editorial: Don’t let state’s budget numbers intimidate you

With budget discussions starting soon, a new website explains the basics of state’s budget crisis.

Eco-nomics: Climate change is making insurance a risky bet

Keeping home insurance affordable amid climate change will take adaptation to threats and broader efforts.

The Buzz: When you gotta boogie, best to shake it off, kid

A pasquidadian review of the week’s news.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Sunday, Feb. 16

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Stick with solutions to homelessness that have heart

A friend of mine, a poet from Leningrad who was born during… Continue reading

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.