Dinosaur National Monument, home of Steamboat Rock (pictured here along the Green River), is proposing to double its entrance fees/Kurt Repanshek
Fees to enter Dinosaur National Monument are proposed to double under a structure dictated by the National Park Service headquarters in Washington.
Park Service Director Jon Jarvis earlier this year directed his field staff to start moving towards a four-tiered fee schedule, with the new fees to be instituted by 2017 unless there was strong pushback from the public.
Dinosaur is among "Group 2" parks that were told to set their entrance fees at $20 by 2017. According to an announcement released by the monument this week, the proposed increase from $10 to $20 to enter Dinosaur would not take effect until 2016. Dinosaur last increased its entrance fees in 1998 when fees increased from $5 to $10 per private vehicle.
As proposed by the new NPS standard entrance fee schedule, Dinosaur National Monument's entrance fee rates would be as follows:
Type of Entrance
Current Fee
Proposed Fee
Private Vehicle
$10
$20
Individual (on foot, bicycle, or in non-commercial vehicle)
$5
$10
Motorcycle
$5 per person
$15 per motorcycle
Annual Pass
$20
$40
With the exception of the annual pass, all entrance passes are valid for reentry for up to seven days.
Entrance fees are not charged to persons under 16 years of age or to holders of the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass ' Annual (for frequent park visitors), Senior (age 62 or older), Active Duty Military (free annually), Access (permanently disabled), and Volunteer. These passes are available at Dinosaur National Monument and their rates are not proposed to change. Rates for commercial vehicles are set nationally and are also not scheduled to change at this time.
Additionally, based on comparability studies done with surrounding private and public facilities, the monument is proposing the following changes to campground fee rates:
Green River Campground: an increase from $12 to $18 per site, per night; $9 per site, per night for valid Senior and Access Pass holders,
Split Mountain Group Campground: an increase from $25 to $40 per site, per night. Group size is 9 to 25 people. In the off season when Split Mountain Campground is open to all campers on a first come, first served basis, and no water is available, a base fee of $6 per site per night will be charged,
Gates of Lodore and Echo Park Campgrounds: an increase from $8 per site, per night to $10 per site per night; $5 per site per night for valid Senior and Access Pass holders,
Deerlodge Park Campground: an increase from $8 to $10 per site per night with a 50% discount for valid senior and access pass holders, making it also $5 per site, per night. Additionally, each large group will be required to pay$1 per each additional person above the 8 people covered by the base rate. The maximum group size for sites at Deerlodge is 25 people. This change is being proposed for Deerlodge, because there are no group sites available, yet it is often used by multiple large groups preparing to launch on the Yampa River. Larger groups use more water and increase the cost of maintaining facilities.
Rainbow Park Campground: From free to $6 per site, per night; $3 per site, per night for valid Senior and Access Pass holders.
Frequent comparability studies are done to compare rates and amenities at area private and public campgrounds to ensure that the National Park Service is not unfairly competing with nearby private businesses or putting them at a disadvantage.
'We take our commitment to providing affordable access to the Monument very seriously,' said Monument Superintendent Mark Foust. 'We want to provide our visitors with the best possible experience. One way of achieving that goal is to collect and invest funds from entrance and camping fees into providing visitor services and maintaining facilities.'
The shuttle that runs between the Quarry Visitor Center and the Exhibit Hall is one of the primary projects currently paid for by visitor fee dollars. The shuttle reduces congestion at the small exhibit hall parking lot, improving the visitor experience. Since 1997, other projects that have been funded from fee dollars include improved signs at trailheads and overlooks, an accessible trail at Plug Hat Butte, rehabilitating and improving several hiking trails, removal of non-native tamarisk trees from river campsites, mitigating hazard trees, and exhibits for the Quarry Visitor Center.
In October 2015 Dinosaur National Monument will celebrate its 100th anniversary. The new fee rates are recommended to begin in January 2016. 'While no fee increases are proposed for this celebratory year, we do need to plan for the next 100 years of enjoying and protecting this incredible place,' said Superintendent Foust.
'In an effort to make sure Dinosaur is affordable for our nearby residents, we will continue to provide an annual pass which is a bargain for our frequent visitors and neighbors,' said the superintendent. 'The National Park Service also hosts many fee free days throughout the year, when visitors, including people from our local communities, can take advantage of enjoying their nearby national park units, like Dinosaur, for free.'
To provide feedback about the proposed fee schedule, you can send written comments to:
Dinosaur National Monument, Fee Program
PO Box 128
Jensen, UT 84035
Email comments can be sent to [email protected] with 'proposed fee rates' in the subject line by December 15, 2014. You can also go to this website to find out more information and submit your comments.
Comments
Its astonishing that the fee drunkards at NPS HQ are partying like Calligula while visitation to "their" parks drops. Heaven forbid they ever tighten their belts and cut bureaucrats. Does anyone know the last time the NPS tightened their salary belts? Has it ever happened?
$20 for a week for a vehicle is a bargain for our beautiful parks. People (users) tend to think "my taxes should pay for this," when, really, users of the parks, not the entire tax-paying public should pay their fair share. They USE the park, they wear out facilities, they require the services. As I said, still a bargain.
$20 per carload for a week is hardly unreasonable, and it's worth noting that use of fee money is restricted to specific types of uses; see the examples cited in the story, such as the shuttle and trail projects that directly benefit visitors. Fee revenue can't be used for those management salaries that some harp about ad nauseum. If you want your money to go where it most benefits visitors & park resources instead of "overhead" then entrance & most user fees offer the best bang for your bucks, as compared to appropriated tax dollars.
SmokiesBackpacker: As to whether the NPS has ever "cut bureaucrats," in the mid 1990's the NPS went through a reorganization that reduced the number of regional offices from 10 to 7, and resulted both in some reductions in the overall number of NPS positions and in the transfer of a number of positions from central offices (Washington and regions) to parks. There's some discussion of that process at this link.
There have probably been other such changes over the years; that round of cuts is one that came to mind.
So the rate goes from 10 to 20, a similar jump from 1998 when it went from 5 to 10.
Most things I bought in 1998 have a different price today.
There's also a very practical reason for keeping fees in $5 or $10 increments when that's feasible: Eliminating the need to handle $1 bills both "in and out the window" decreases errors in handling cash, cuts down waiting times for visitors at entrance stations by reducing the time it takes to make change, and reduces the staff time it takes to count and process the daily remittance and bank deposit.
Some may scoff, but a peak times, even a few seconds saved per entry quickly adds up to a minute or more saved in line for today's oft-impatient visitors.