PAICINES
– The National Park Service (NPS) announced on Saturday, April 14 that Pinnacles National Park will
modify its entrance fees to provide additional funding for infrastructure and
maintenance needs
to enhance the visitor experience. Effective January 1, 2019 the entrance fees
to the park will
be $30.00 per vehicle or $25.00 per motorcycle. An annual park pass will cost
$55. All of the
money received from entrance fees remains with the National Park Service with
at least 80
percent
of the revenue going to Pinnacles National Park. Revenue
from entrance fees remains in the National Park Service and helps ensure a
quality experience
for all who visit. Currently at Pinnacles National Park, 100 percent of
entrance fees
stay
in the park and are devoted to spending that supports the visitor. In
response to public comments on a fee proposal released in October 2017, there
will be a
modest
increase for all entrance fee-charging parks, rather than the higher
peak-season fees initially
proposed only for 17 highly-visited national parks.
Superintendent
Karen Dorn stated “The additional fees will enhance all aspects of the visitor experience
at Pinnacles. Visitors will directly see improvements at the East Side
Entrance, in restroom
and parking facilities, on trails, in the campground, and at the Nature Center.
We are committed
to providing a safe and rewarding experience for all visitors.” National
parks have experienced record breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion
visitors in the
last five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging
infrastructure and increased
visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines,
bathrooms, and
other visitor services and led to a $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog
nationwide.
The
additional revenue from entrance fees at Pinnacles National Park will be used
to support projects
such as restoration of the Historic Bear Valley School, and the construction of
a new entrance
station. Entrance
fees collected by the National Park Service totaled $199.9 million in Fiscal
Year 2016. The
NPS estimates that once fully implemented, the new fee structure will increase
annual entrance
fee revenue by about $60 million.
The
current rate of $25 per vehicle or $20 per motorcycle has been in effect since
January 1, 2018.
The park is one of 117 National Park Service sites that charges an entrance
fee, the other 300
national parks will remain free to enter. The
price of the annual America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal
Recreational Lands Annual
Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80. The
National Park Service has a standardized entrance fee structure, composed of
four groups based
on park size and type. Pinnacles National Park is one of the sites in group 3.
Some parks not
yet aligned with the other parks in their category will raise their fees
incrementally and fully incorporate
the new entrance fee schedule by January 1, 2020.
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