The rocky coastline at Cabrillo National Monument/NPS

Entrance fees to Cabrillo National Monument in California will bump up January 5 in a move park officials say will help them pay for "important maintenance and improvement projects within the park."

Fees will increase from $5 to $10 per vehicle for seven-day entry. The monument's annual pass will go from $15 to $20 per year. Motorcyclists will pay $7 for entry and pedestrians and bicyclists will now pay $5 instead of $3 for a seven-day visit.

In fiscal year 2015, the park was visited by more than one million people, a rate not seen in more than ten years.

“Cabrillo is San Diego’s national park. As visitation continues to rise, this modest increase in fees will allow us to continue to protect, preserve and share the natural and cultural resources here at Cabrillo National Monument,” said Superintendent Thomas Workman. “After carefully considering the impact of a fee increase on visitors and community members, we came to the conclusion that this is the right course of action to improve facilities and services important to visitors.”

Entrance fees have supported a wide range of projects that improve the park and visitor experiences, including rehabilitating trails, education programming, removing exotic plants to restore natural habitat, and the creation of a new park film. Additional revenue from this fee increase will upgrade military history exhibits, construct an accessible interpretive shelter at the tide pools and rehabilitate the main public restrooms at the visitor center, to name a few.

The monument marks the approximate location where Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo came ashore in 1542, becoming the first European to set foot on what is now the West Coast of the United States. In addition to telling the story of 16th century exploration, the park is home to a wealth of cultural and natural resources.

In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. To solicit public input, Cabrillo National Monument launched a civic engagement campaign in November 2014. During the public comment period, the park received 49 formal comments. Many people felt that the original proposal was too much of an increase to make all at once. In response to public comment, the park modified the proposal to reduce the amounts.