Average families can't afford proposed National Park fee increase

I am against the proposed $70 entrance fee per car in 17 national parks to fund a backlog of projects because the average family would not be able to afford it. This entrance fee increase would reduce the number of people coming to the parks and therefore be self-defeating in that the money raised would be less than predicted.

People support the national parks because they are accessible for people to enjoy them. If they are restricted from coming to the parks, their support would wane along with their pressure on Congress to properly fund these parks. The gap in money raised may never be realized and the fee increase could become permanent.

I am for a modest fee increase from, say, $25 at Rainier to $35 or $40 with proper monitoring in place that if the visitation is significantly reduced, the fee will be adjusted to achieve a better balance. I am also in favor of people submitting their ideas on raising money in other ways. I don’t think a fee increase is our only choice. I believe we can tap into the love and creativity that people have in the national parks by soliciting their ideas to fund and enhance our parks without driving them away in the process.

These 17 parks have successfully promoted themselves to where they are regularly breaking attendance records each year. I don’t want this generation of park-goers to kill the “Best Idea America Has Ever Had” while trying to save it.

This story was originally published November 18, 2017 at 3:25 PM with the headline "Average families can't afford proposed National Park fee increase."