Fees at Cades Creek and other frontcountry campgrounds at Great Smoky Mountains National Park would increase under a new proposal/NPS
Three years ago, Great Smoky Mountains National Park didn’t open some campgrounds and picnic areas due to funding shortfalls. Now, the park is proposing fee increases of up to 30 percent at all frontcountry campgrounds and picnic pavilions to meet the rising costs of operations, reduce a backlog of maintenance requirements on park facilities, and initiate needed improvements.
The park operates nine campgrounds, seven group campgrounds, and five horse campgrounds. Additionally, the park maintains six picnic pavilions, which are available for reservation through Recreation.gov. The fees have not been increased since 2006 or earlier at any facility aside from Cataloochee Campground, which had an increase when it was added to the reservation system in 2011. Unlike most large national parks, Great Smoky Mountains does not charge an entrance fee and therefore has limited means for increasing revenue.
“In recent years, the park has compensated for budget imbalances due to inflation by reducing visitor services, delaying maintenance repairs, and, in some cases, reducing the length of time facilities are open, which particularly affects visitors during the shoulder seasons,” park Superintendent Cassius Cash said in a release. “While we recognize that fee increases are often unpopular, we are committed to maintaining this ‘crown jewel’ of the National Park Service where visitors can create lasting memories through camping and picnicking in the Smokies.”
In addition to the fee increases, the park is proposing to add Abrams Creek, Balsam Mountain and Big Creek campgrounds to the National Recreation Reservation System. As proposed, all sites would require advanced reservation and payment prior to arrival through Recreation.gov either online or by phone. By placing these three remote campgrounds on the reservation system, the park can reduce campground operation costs by eliminating the need for staff time for fee collection. The reservation system also provides a more efficient process for visitors to secure an overnight stay without traveling to the remote locations to check for vacancies.
The proposal is open to public comment through June 27, and the park will host open houses June 20 at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center Administration Building near Cherokee, North Carolina, and June 23 at Park Headquarters near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. A detailed breakdown of the proposed fees for specific campgrounds and pavilions can be found in an information sheet posted online. If approved, all changes could take effect as early as Oct. 1, 2016; however, implementation of some changes may be deferred until the 2017 season.
There are no proposed changes to backcountry camping fees.
Look Rock Campground and picnic area, which were closed in 2013 due to funding shortfalls and a deteriorating water system, will remain closed. It was one of the least-used campgrounds in the park and is the only one detached from the main body of the park.
By law, the park maintains 100 percent of the camping and pavilion fees to reinvest in facility maintenance, including routine maintenance and infrastructure improvements, and provide services that benefit park visitors. In 2015, park revenue from camping and pavilion fees totaled about $1.6 million. The proposed fee increases are expected to generate approximately $400,000. In recent years, recreation fee money has been used to support a variety of projects, including daily maintenance and utility costs along with rehabilitation projects such as the replacement of picnic tables and grills.
National Park Service policy maintains that fees for services like camping and pavilions are set so as not to create unfair competition with private sector facilities in the area or put them at a disadvantage. A 2016 study by the park revealed that, while camping fees in Smokies have remained largely constant since 2006, campground fees in the surrounding communities have continued to rise. Even with the increases, park campgrounds would remain among the least expensive in the area.
The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Interagency Senior or Access Pass holders receive a 50 percent discount in camping fees for frontcountry individual and horse campsites. There is no plan to increase the price of these national passes, which is $10 for lifetime Senior Pass and free for the Access pass. Passes are available at Smokemont, Elkmont, and Cades Cove campgrounds, and park visitor centers.
The park will host two informational open houses where the general public, partners, and stakeholder representatives are invited to learn more about the proposal and submit written comments:
- 5 to 7 p.m. June 20, Oconaluftee Visitor Center Administration Building, 1194 Newfound Gap Road, Cherokee, NC
- 5 to 7 p.m. June 23, Park Headquarters Lobby, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN
To comment
- Deadline: June 27, 2016
- Online: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=65450
- Mail: Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Attn: Proposal to Increase Fees, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738
- E-mail: [email protected]
Note that comments submitted anonymously will not be accepted. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, know that your entire comment (including your personal information) is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and may be made publicly available. While you may request in your comment to withhold your personal identifying from public review, the park cannot guarantee that it will legally be able to do so.
Comments
As a park volunteer I donate a lot of time to the Smokies. If I were to put a dollar figure on it I would say that I personally donate $2000 dollars per year in time to the Smokies, based on my pay in the private sector. How about you, Leo?
Recreation.gov doesn't add a fee to reservations at Smoky Mountain National Park. In fact, they don't add fees to most of their campground reservations. ReserveAmerica does, but transfers users to recreation.gov for any bookings for federal sites.
The fees on ReserveAmerica vary depending on which entity (state, city, county) you are booking. NY and MA charge $9 per booking while VA charges $5 per booking and FL varies depending on the park. Maryland is the most expensive at @$6 per night booked.
So, if those campgrounds are added to Recreation.gov, their price will probably rise to $20/night, the same fee charged at Elkmont and Smokemont.
As for the large, behemoth RVs, I live full time in one. It is our only house, all 240 sq. ft. of it. Solar panels provide most of our electricity and we go through about 80 gallons of water a week (yes, a week). Yes, we burn more gas than an average car, but we use as much as the average commuter and our resource use is much, much lower than an average house. While Abbey might not like the 'weekend warriors' that come out to parks, I think he would approve of our small footprint lifestyle choice. Not only do we spend the majority of our 'rent' money at state and national parks, we try to give back by leaving where we stay better than we found it.
A good point Dahkota, I have retired friends who do as you do, their motor home is their residence. Ido think fees are an issue, I support camping, entrance fees, but it can get get out of hand. Here in California we have state parks that charge 50.00 a night for a campsite, there are now proposals for parking fees in high use areas for pullouts.
There is a difference between people who live in their large RVs and those who go "camping" a few weekends a year. In the past, many Americans would never have considered going camping. But now that they can take all the comforts of home with them, they are filling the woods and parks and deserts. My point is that as more and more and more take up the outdoor lifestyle, things are going to have to be paid for in some way. It's wonderful to be out there, but why can't we also be wise stewards at the same time?
Dahkota,
ReserveAmerica and Recreation.gov are the same thing. ReserveAmerica is for the private, state, and county campgrounds, Rec.gov is for the federal ones. They are operated by The Active Network at the moment, however the rec.gov contract has just been awarded to Booz Allen instead. There has been a challenge filed against the contract award so the transfer is on hold until that's settled. The challenger has not been identified but I'll be very surprised if it's not The Active Network.
And if they don't add a reservation fee at GRSM then that's the only place they take bookings for where they don't. It's their whole business model.
Lee Dalton asks:
If YOU were the NPS director or head of BLM or USFS or even state and local parks, what would YOU do?
I'd suggest the following as some ways a NPS Director might provide more funding, if their first priority was the best-possible current system rather than more units, more programs, and more development.
Drastically downsize the top-heavy, redundant, and crony-filled DC and Regional Offices that absorb probably half the annual appropriation before it ever reaches the actual parks.
Change hiring priorities to favor front-line rangers, interpreters and maintenance staff rather than resource management and so-called science. For example, Mount Rainier's staffing FTE has increased by about a third in the past ten years, as have their press releases blaming "insufficent staff" for this park's leading the league in locked gates. Do they really need TWO geomorphologists and a stable of biologists in a park with no winter range? NPS 'science' has been distorted by management since at least the Craighead brother's treatment at Yellowstone and often seems designed to bolster preconceived policy. I'd like to see grant programs that forged stronger partnerships with Universities than Budweiser.
Belt-tightening and changing priorities certainly have limits. I'm not opposed to all fees or fee increases. I would return my ridiculously cheap lifetime senior pass and pay the same as everyone else, if that change were made. But the 'Great American Entitlement Mentality' also exists in bureaucracies, even the National Park Service. What manager ever said, 'Thanks, but we can get by. The country has bigger problems to fix than our tiny budget"?
Future fees and increases necessitated by our unsustainable financial system and erratic Congress would meet a lot less public resistence if the NPS had any real transparency or accountability:
http://www.schundler.net/Monocracy.pdf
http://www.schundler.net/FOIAfailing.pdf
LOL! Yeah, right. I have to laugh at Johnny Quillen (smokies hack) thinking he is a beneficiary to the park. You have actually cost the park (and the taxpayers that fund it) quite a lot money in your lies, and trumped up conspiracies. I'm willing to bet those frivilous lawsuits you like to file have cost taxpayers, as well as the park 10's if not over a hundred thousands of dollars in lawyer fees, and administration costs.
Don't give me the BS that you are a provider to the Smokies. You are anything, but. A scourge, like an adelgid, perhaps. But, definitely not a provider.
OK, c'mon guys, please don't get started.