High Sierra Topix

Taken from Yosemitenews/info...
http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?3,77461" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Hi everyone,

Yosemite officials today announced plans to raise the park entrance fee to $30 per car from the current $20 per car. That fee, which the park says would help it keep pace with inflation, also would give Yosemite the highest entrance fee of any of America's 401 national parks. Yosemite officials also announced plans today to increase camping fees.

I'm writing a story about this for the San Jose Mercury News and would be interested in hearing the thoughts of folks who post on this board.

Please email or call me today if you have thoughts at progers@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5045.

Thanks very much,

Paul Rogers
San Jose Mercury News
Environment & Natural Resources Writer

Update:

The fee increase is part of a national plan. The Obama administration is proposing raising entrance fees at Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and other marquee parks to $30, and raising fees at about 130 other units.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_2 ... e=infinite" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here is the Mercury News article: http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_2 ... 50-percent" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SEKI could also see a $30 entrance fee. Several parks in CA could have fee increases.

The annual passes that give unlimited access to all the national parks look even better to me now as they are still expected to cost $80.

I'm one of those that believe our national parks and forests belong to everyone and that access should be free to the public. At the same time I understand that heavily used parks also have exceptionally high maintenance costs. Why shouldn't the people that actually use them pay something extra to visit? I know that everything does not run perfect in Yosemite but every time I go there I am impressed with the care, organization, and services that the park service provides considering the amount of people that visit there. Lets face it, there are a lot of people with out any care, consideration or respect abusing our national parks. If it takes an extra $10 for the parks dept. to continue to protect and provide I'll pay without complaint. If it's just another way for the politicians to squeeze more money out of me to use somewhere else that is something different.

I'll continue to do how I do ...when money is tight I just go through the secret free entrance. When money's plenty, I will grudgingly hand over 30$. That is quite an increase. Assholes!

I learned in an earlier topic that this board has a very politically diverse community, and nearly anything someone says about taxes will inspire heat.

So I will say only this: we must take care not to degrade the parks through neglect and overuse.

I want the park service to maintain trails, repair damage from human overuse, hire rangers to patrol the backcountry, prevent traffic jams on access roads, and much more. I have my preferences on how the funds to do these things should be obtained, and entrance fees are not my preferred method. But some method to fund the Parks is necessary.

kpeter wrote:I learned in an earlier topic that this board has a very politically diverse community, and nearly anything someone says about taxes will inspire heat.

So I will say only this: we must take care not to degrade the parks through neglect and overuse.

I want the park service to maintain trails, repair damage from human overuse, hire rangers to patrol the backcountry, prevent traffic jams on access roads, and much more. I have my preferences on how the funds to do these things should be obtained, and entrance fees are not my preferred method. But some method to fund the Parks is necessary.

theodore-roosevelt-yosemite.jpg

Teddy had it right.
It should not be SOLELY reliant upon entrance fees; but upon the government which owns the land . Then upon users... 1> sum! = what I feel is justice. You the tax payers make up the difference. small potatoes compared to the "world's problems" in foreign lands.

I get a pass once a year - it's more than worthwhile at the current fee, and even if it goes up a little I'm perfectly happy to get it.

They now need to ramp up the cost to idiots - fines need to go up significantly to be more effective. Fund more backcountry rangers to keep the knotheads from burning half the park down or defacing the wilderness with the axe they lugged to 10,000 feet.

One of the advantages to getting older is the lifetime geezer pass.

I wonder how much of the increase is due to free admittance of the lifetime passes.

I have a ¨geezer¨pass that I haven´t used in a while. I plan on using it with my wife in summer 2015.
I seem to remember that I still had to pay a fee (reduced) to enter the park. Am I remembering correctly?