Look at the entrance fees to theme parks. The cost is financially staggering for a family of four. But, these parks must generate money to sustain their operations, return profit or close their doors.
DOI park units have closed in the past due to inadequate funding to support operations. Personally, I see the need for a larger percentage of operating revenue be derived from end users.
Several factors have gotten the NP system into this predicament. The most glaring is not underfunding per se, but rather, according to the 2016 GAO published report, between 2005 and 2016 park unit fees generating revenue did not keep pace of inflation. The net result, all park unit fees have not kept pace with inflation. .
The recently announced entrance fee increases associated with the more popular parks is a "all at once" catch up to what entrance fees would be had they been adjusted annually for inflation since 2005. And, not only will you see entrance fees increase, but so too amenity fees, special recreation permit fees, special interpretive/living history fees and concession fees and all other authorized specialty fees.
Amenity, special use fees and all other non-entrance fees will likely increase at all park units, not just the ones targeted for higher entrance fees.
Why not raise the entrance fees at all park units using the same inflation adjustment factor? Simply put, those park units would likely see a precipitous drop in visitation and difficult to support their retention at their current classification as one of the 59 NPs.
We got caught up in the "no backcountry permits today" this past spring at Moab. We were unable to hammer out our visitation timeline and precisely plan our visit to Canyonlands in order to drive/camp along the White Rim Trail. So we missed that opportunity...this time.
Even though we missed this trail/camp this time, we still much prefer the current reservation system for ALL backcountry permits rather than withholding a few walkups.
Recognizing there may be some "no shows", the NPS can stipule that a reserved backcountry permit must be picked up by a certain time on the first day of validity. If not picked up by that time, than it can be reissued to someone on a waiting list. The waiting list for that day would be generated when the back country permit office opens. A person on the waiting list has to decide if you want to hang around perhaps a half day hoping to score a "no show" permit. This way, maximum back country utilization is afforded to all.
My brother-in-law is a retired NP Superintendent; his last Super job was at the most visited of all NPs. He became concerned about park units operating costs and funding decades ago for a host of reasons. His main concern had nothing to do with fees, but rather the increase of federal lands (acreage) under NPS management authority without any increased funding. Thus, most park units fiscally operate at a lose due to increased management activities.
Like many others here, I certainly support the protection of areas worthy of protection by DOI/NPS. But, I also realize that sustainment and management of these areas comes at at price that increases annually due to both inflation and general operating costs. I hope we never see the nose bleed prices of theme parks, but higher entrance fees and other on site fees should be expected by users. If anything, perhaps the higher site visitation fees will reduce some of the over-crowding we see at many of the big name parks (wishful thinking I know).
None of us want to pay more coin out of our pockets for visiting DOI park units, but, I think it only fair that users pay more to help offset actual operating costs.
Like ALL things associated with D.C., there is no simple, easy answer to the fiscal problems facing DOI/NPS.
