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A raft floating down a river in Dinosaur National Monument. Photo by Pat Cone 6-2016.

One of the most troublesome aspects of heading out into national parks, national forests, and other federal lands for camping, paddling, or climbing – as well as many other recreational pursuits – is the rising tide of fees to do so. 

There are reservation fees, cancellation fees, fees to change the date of your trip, even fees to gain a priority position to pay a fee for a permit. 

Are these fees, generated through your use of the recreation.gov website that handles most, if not all, of the transactions, reasonable? It’s a question the Traveler has followed for a good number of years now, and it doesn’t look like a satisfactory answer will be coming soon.

Recently a U.S. senator from California, Alex Padilla, introduced legislation calling for an investigation into the fees these reservations cost the American public. Among the groups hoping that legislation eventually is signed into law is American Whitewater, which advocates for the protection and preservation of whitewater rivers and works to enhance opportunities to enjoy them safely.

Joining us today is Evan Stafford, American Whitewater’s communication’s director, to discuss recreation.gov and explain his organization’s interest in this legislation.

At the end of the show, if you’re interested in seeing Sen. Padilla’s legislation move forward, here’s the link to the Easy Action page Evan mentioned for contacting your senators.

0:02 National Parks Traveler introduction
0:12 Episode Intro with Kurt Repanshek
1:10 Shee Beg Shee Mor - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
1:35 Friends of Acadia
2:01 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
2:23 Smokies Life
2:46 NPT Promo
3:03 Episode 284 - Investigating Recreation.gov
44:32 Wabanaki - Nature’s Symphony - The Sounds of Acadia
46:07 Episode Closing
46:31 Orange Tree Productions
47:03 Splitbeard Productions
47:15 National Parks Traveler footer

Comments

In the NPT reader survey, I responded by saying I don't listen because they take too long and often seemed to go on and on and on.  But then I decided to give this one a try and discovered, to my delight, that the table of contents allows me to select what I'm interested in and skip the fluff. 


National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 321 | National Park Science At Risk

There has been much upheaval in the National Park Service this year, with firings, then rehires, and staff deciding to retire now rather than risk sticking around and being fired. There have been fears that more Park Service personnel are about to be let go through a reduction in force.

While Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered the Park Service to ensure that parks are properly to support the operating hours and needs of each park unit,” that message said nothing about protecting park resources.

April 20th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 320 | George Wright Society

George Melendez Wright was a brilliant young scientist with the National Park Service back in the 1920s and 1930s. You could say he was ahead of his time, in that he wanted the Park Service to take a holistic role in how wildlife in the parks was managed.

April 6th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 319 | Kilauea's Unrest

One of the greatest shows on Earth has been going on now for several months in Hawaii, where the Kīlauea volcano at Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park has been erupting since late December. The Kīlauea volcano is the most active volcano on Earth.

March 30th, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 318 | Covering the Parks

There are more stories to be found in the National Park System than one could write in a lifetime. Or several lifetimes.

Sometimes those stories can be hard to spot. How many were aware of the factoid from Great Smoky Mountains National Park that Jennifer Bain dug up, that if you stacked up all of the park’s salamanders against its roughly 1,900 black bears, the salamanders would weigh more?

Talk about national park trivia.

March 23rd, 2025 Read More

National Parks Traveler Podcast Episode 317 | A Little Volcanic Levity

In this week’s podcast we thought we’d take a break from the unsettling news happening in and around our national parks and federal lands regarding park staff reductions and threats of reducing park boundaries to make way for mining.  

March 16th, 2025 Read More

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