Remember when the National Parks Pass died and the pricier America the Beautiful Federal Lands Pass arrived? Wondering how sales have gone? Let's take a look.
When the $80 ATB pass replaced the $50 National Parks Pass on January 1, 2007, the idea was that one pass could get you into all public lands where an entrance fee was charged. (Of course, you didn't need the ATB to do that, as you could upgrade your National Parks Pass for $15 and use it to get into other public lands where fees were charged, but that's another story.)
Under the ground rules, 100 percent of the sales price of these passes goes back to the agency that sold the pass. So, in terms of NPS revenues, one of the gambles created by the ATB pass was whether there were more folks who, for instance, use Forest Service lands than parks and so would be likely to purchase their ATB pass at a Forest Service site, not a national park, and thus ensure that those revenues stayed within the Forest Service.
Well, in looking at revenue figures since the ATB arrived three years ago, it looks like just about a wash for the Park Service. Jane Moore, the agency's fee program manager, provided the Traveler with this update on 2008 pass sales:
2008 Pass Revenue
Total for the interagency program: $29 million with approximately 760,000 passes sold.
2008 Breakdown:
U.S. Bureau of Land Management --$260,000
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- $290,000
U.S. Forest Service -- $1.7 million
National Park Service -- $24.7 million
Internet/toll-free phone/third-party sales -- $1.9 million
Revenue Distribution:
Central sales revenue (the $1.9 million figure above) is used to fund the administrative costs of the program (fulfillment, printing, shipping, web orders, inventory management, program administration, start up costs etc)
All revenue from field sales of the passes remain in the agency where the pass was sold. Most agencies allow the field sites to retain 80-100 percent of pass revenue for site specific projects that benefit visitors.
2009 Pass Revenue Stats for the NPS
$24.2 million in pass revenue
In 2006, the last year for the National Parks Pass, the Park Service took in $22.2 million. In 2005 it received $18.6 million, and in 2004 pass sales totaled $20.3 million. The slightly higher Park Service revenues for 2008 and 2009 (higher by roughly $2 million-$3 million annually) can be traced in part to the fact that while senior pass sales were included in ATB sales, they were not included in the National Park Pass sales for years prior to 2007, according to Ms. Moore.
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Comments
That's not surprising. It's pretty clear what the NPS pass gets you - free entrance/parking to all units that charge a fee. National forests in contrast are often a patchwork of lands, and I couldn't say off the top of my head what the USFS charges fees for. I know that I have sometimes encountered parking lots within our national forests (Chequamegon/Nicolet) that say fee area, but I usually wouldn't be inclined to pay a fee unless I'm sticking around. Otherwise there is no fee for driving on the forest roads or parking at pulloffs within the national forest, so I can't say why I'd buy one. National forests also often lack the same kind of visitors centers you get with national parks and their offices are more often closed on weekends I imagine. Seems to me many of the ones in Wisconsin are more interagency visitor centers shared with the NPS, USFWS or some other state/local authorities.
Of course, the pass probably has more use in for other USFS areas, which, I note, include not only national forests but also national grasslands. The USFS also has some locations which offer experiences more traditionally associated with NPS - the two I know of are Mt. St. Helens and the Hubbard Glacier near Juneau (see, e.g., http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/mendenhall/) and maybe those charge a fee but I don't remember off the top of myhead.
I do, however, seem to remember hearing of an NPS unit that is accessible by a USFS road, and the USFS charges a fee to use their road. I think it's in CA but can't recall.
That would be Devils Postpiles National Monument
>>Otherwise there is no fee for driving on the forest roads or parking at pulloffs within the national forest<<
Mike, don't say that too loudly. There's a highway that runs from Kamas, Utah, to Evanston, Wyoming, through the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
The Forest Service long has been charging fees to park at trailhead pulloffs. In fact, used to be there was a single-day fee, as well as a week-long fee, as well as a season-long fee. Recently they got rid of the single-day fee, which I seem to recall was $3, for a $6 three-day minimum pass. Seems like they're trying to force the locals, who might want to hike one day a weekend, but not both, let alone three days straight, to buy the $12 weekly pass or the $45 annual pass.
As far as I recall, Mt St Helens only charges an entrance fee to get into the Johnson Observatory. They have stuff inside as well as a short movie (the ending is rather dramatic).
I've actually paid a parking fee once in the Lake Tahoe area. I didn't think that my pass would cover parking fees, but now that I think of it, I probably could have just placed my pass on the hang tag.
I'm no math whiz, but something seems off.
If you sell 760,000 passes at $80 per pass, you should end up with a whole lot more money than $29 million.
"If you sell 760,000 passes at $80 per pass, you should end up with a whole lot more money than $29 million."
I would guess there are a lot of senior citizens buying the discounted pass in that 760,000.
Over 60 milliondollers. Standard procedure. We aren't intelegent enough to catch it. Its those babby boomers. They must pay!
The Pass only covers entrance fees to sites that charge entrance fees. Only approximately 1/4 of the 392 units within the NP units charge an entrance fee. The Pass does not cover other fees charged to visit the park. For entrance, instead of charging an entrance fee Mt Rushmore charges a $10 parking fee is charged. At Mammoth Cave where the main attraction is the cave, you are charged for cave tours. To visit Statue of Liberty you must pay for the boat ride. There are so many other fees charged that should be included in the pass.
Parking at Mt Rushmore is a concessionaire and is not run by the park service. Technically it is free to visit Mt. Rushmore, just not with a car.
The Mt Rushmore website mentions that the $10 parking fee is essentially an annual pass.
The explanation is that federal funds weren't used in the construction. While a concessionaire seems to be operating it on behalf of a non-profit, it only sounds as if they're merely a contractor. Concessionaires certainly run federally owned campgrounds, as well as lodging that is technically owned by the federal government.
we're going to bryce and zion and the grand canyon in March. Each park costs $25 to get in? should we get a national parks pass? do those parks have other fees like parking?
J.M.,
Each park does cost $25 to enter with your vehicle and is good for seven days. You can get around that a bit at Zion, because you can't drive your car into Zion Canyon unless you have a reservation at Zion Lodge. Otherwise there are shuttle buses you can ride. If that's the route you take, the cost is $12 per person. But if you want to visit the Kolob Canyon area of the park, you would need your car as there are no shuttles there.
Last time I checked there were no parking fees in any of these parks.
It probably makes sense to shell out the $80 for the ATB pass, as it's good for a year and not only gains you entrance to all national park units, but also to fee areas managed by the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and other federal land-managers.
March was mentioned. The information from their website mentions that the Zion Canyon shuttle doesn't start until April 1 and ends Oct 31 (this was later than the year I went). I think a private vehicle will be the only practical means of transport until the shuttles start running. In addition, I remember the parking lots tended to be rather small. I saw photos of what it used to be like during the summer at Zion and it looked almost impossible - worse than Yosemite Valley during peak season because of the limited parking, a narrow road, and cars parked on the side of the road. What's it going to be like during early spring?
http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/zion-shuttle-system.htm
I went with my folks and one had the senior pass. Since I went with them in the same vehicle, I was able to request a temporary reentry pass good for 7 days which I used to enter without them when I did the Angels Landing hike by myself. It might be possible to do that with an ATB pass. Maybe I found a generous park ranger or maybe the shuttle system makes things different where visitors initially entering on the same pass might be more likely to split up. I'm wondering if there's any set NPS policy on people reentering separately after they've either used a pass together or entered on the same entrance fee.
The passes sometimes come in handy. We visited Timpanogos Cave NM on that trip. They didn't have their own entrance/parking fee, but that was an NPS unit surrounded by the American Fork Canyon area of Uinta National Forest, which did charge an entrance fee.
I was in Zion on Valentine's day, the Sunday of a holiday weekend and a gorgeous, sunny, ~65-70 degree day with snow on the tops of the peaks. No shuttles running, quite a few cars, but around noon there appeared to be a couple of parking spaces open in each of the parking lots in the canyon.
As ypw mentions, having the pass lets you drop in on smaller parks in the area. Pipe Spring NM is on the way from Zion to Grand Canyon if you go Bryce->Zion->Grand Canyon from SLC; if you're coming up from the south I recommend adding Sunset Craters if not Wupatki (which takes more time) outside of Flagstaff.
[I had hoped to buy the $80 annual pass at Cedar Breaks (to give the local share to a smaller park), but it wasn't open. I don't actually know if local parks get a share of the $80 pass, but just in case, I try to help the underfunded ones...]
I found out that the entire proceeds for the pass goes to the agency, but not the unit. So if you bought it at Cedar Breaks, the entire $80 goes to NPS. If you bought it at a BLM, Forest Service, or Fish & Wildlife site, that entire amount goes back the the individual agency. I bought my last pass at Crater Lake. It would effectively been no different had I gotten it closer to home (Muir Woods) or along the way (Lassen perhaps). If I had gotten the pass at Mt St Helens, the entire amount would have gone to the Forest Service.
I've been to Cedar Breaks. Certainly it's a nice place, but I didn't really see that much to do other than visit their two viewpoints. I didn't have enough time saved to go hiking, and I heard they've barely got a trail there.
It's supposed to be 80% of the regular entrance fees that goes back to the units. I'm wondering how that works when a single entrance (or maybe a multi-unit pass) fee gains access to multiple units. I'm thinking Grand Teton/Yellowstone, or all the NPS units in Hawaii (with their multi-park pass).
ypw - the individual parks do get back 80% of revenues from both daily entrance fees AND the annual pass. Don't know where you got your information but it's incorrect.
That 80% only applies to the regular entrance fees and single-site passes.
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/16C87.txt
However - it is a little more complicated than I originally thought. 100% of interagency pass revenue goes to the agency, and then they figure out how it gets distributed. It's actually in the law, but buried. It's definitely not set at 80% of interagency pass revenues staying on site.
http://www.nps.gov/feedemo/reports/FinalTriennial2006Report.pdf
I hate buying the "seven day pass" when all I have time to do at most parks is drive through in a day...