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Submit Your Comments: Proposed National Park Fee Increase

REI Staff|

The National Park Service is proposing to increase entrance fees at 17 of our most popular national parks during peak season. They’ve asked for public input, and we’re making it easy for you to provide it.

It just takes a few minutes to email your representatives and make a difference with the REI Cooperative Action Network.

Take action today

Under the proposal, the one-time fee for a passenger car would go from $30 to $70. Motorcycle fees would jump from $25 to $50. Bicycle and pedestrian fees would go from $15 to $30 per person.

We agree that our national parks have to be cared for and that decades of underfunding have left the infrastructure for many parks in disrepair. But the proposed increase would make it harder for one-time visitors—especially for low-income families—to visit some of our nation’s most iconic places.

REI consistently supports nonpartisan public policy that lowers barriers to outdoor experiences, because access to the outdoors should be for all. We believe that any solution to the parks’ maintenance backlog must protect everyone’s right to enjoy our national treasures.

The comment period is now closed.  

The proposed new fee structure would be implemented at Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Denali, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Olympic, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion National Parks with peak season starting on May 1, 2018; in Acadia, Mount Rainier, Rocky Mountain, and Shenandoah National Parks with peak season starting on June 1, 2018; and in Joshua Tree National Park as soon as practicable in 2018.
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2 Comments

  1. ChrisFixedKitty

    I think, while sad, a major theme running through the NPS story is a struggle between Use Now and Have Preserved For Later. The future has never looked back and wished the NPs were less-well conserved for the sake of a previous generation’s ease of access. If they have to raise the rates, they do. We should support them and address the real problem by the proposal: the people who will now not be able to afford NP access.

    I am an REI member, and let’s face it: we can afford expensive gear at REI. Most of us are only pinched, not prevented, by the proposed new fee schedule. Rather than work against the NPS, perhaps REI’s membership’s energy and resources could go toward organizing a relief fund for those who are fiscally challenged to access parks instead.

  2. Annaliese Eichelberger

    I don’t see any other feasible way for the parks to get the maintenance that they need. The current admin is most certainly not going to fund it in the next budget. The fees would only increase during peak season and the America The Beautiful (and all other season passes) pass would stay at the same price.