{"id":7011,"date":"2015-06-13T07:24:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-13T13:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=7011"},"modified":"2015-06-13T07:24:31","modified_gmt":"2015-06-13T13:24:31","slug":"national-parks-visitors-take-rate-increases-in-stride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2015\/06\/national-parks-visitors-take-rate-increases-in-stride\/","title":{"rendered":"National parks visitors take rate increases in stride"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fees\"<\/a>

Ruffin Prevost\/Yellowstone Gate<\/p>

Candice Phipps, a worker at the East Gate to Yellowstone National Park, checks passes of visitors arriving from Cody in this 2012 file photo.<\/p><\/div>\n

CODY, WYO. \u2014 Plenty of people will tell you that a visit to a national park like Yellowstone or Grand Teton is something you can\u2019t put a price on. But entry fees for both parks went up June 1, and despite some initial concerns, early indications are that most visitors either haven\u2019t noticed or don\u2019t seem to mind.<\/p>\n

National parks across the country are raising entry fees and other charges after National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis asked park superintendents last summer to assess public opinion and determine if higher rates would be supported.<\/p>\n

Facing a tightening federal budget and rising backlog of maintenance issues and other spending priorities, the Park Service is aiming to standardize rates and tackle a wide range of key projects before the 2016 centennial of the agency\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n

While it may be too soon to tell what most summer visitors to Yellowstone National Park think of the increased entry fees, there have been hardly any complaints after the first 10 days under the new rate structure, said park spokeswoman Traci Weaver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people recognize this is an amazing place and Yellowstone is still a great value,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Weaver said that explaining the new rate structure to visitors has not caused significant delays or confusion.<\/p>\n

Some visitors from West Yellowstone didn\u2019t realize Yellowstone\u2019s entry fee no longer covered admission to Grand Teton, while some motorcyclists at the East Gate were unhappy with the rate hike, she said.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Other than those few complaints, \u201cmost people don\u2019t seem to recognize that there\u2019s even been an increase,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That has also been the case at the Visitor Center at the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not heard anything negative,\u201d said Claudia Wade, marketing director for the Park County Travel Council. \u201cPeople either don\u2019t know or it\u2019s just apparently a non-issue for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Voorhis, director of education for the Yellowstone Association, said he was unaware of any significant complaints in Gardiner, Mont., where the Association operates a visitor center and store.<\/p>\n

Workers in Grand Teton National Park have heard \u201conly a handful of complaints,\u201d said park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been surprisingly well received, and most everyone is taking it in stride,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Among those who took issue were some international visitors who had apparently planned their trip well in advance, and were surprised by the higher fees, which were put in place after relatively brief periods of public comment and agency review.<\/p>\n

Previously, a single-vehicle pass to both parks valid for one week had cost $25. Under the new rate structure now in place, each park charges $30 for a 1-week, single-vehicle pass or $50 for both parks.<\/p>\n

Weaver and Skaggs both said the new rates have prompted increased sales of an $80 interagency annual pass good on all federal public lands, a popular option among those visiting the region for longer than one week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good news for both parks, which will each keep 80 percent of all entry fees paid or annual passes purchased. Yellowstone expects to see an additional $3 million per year, while Grand Teton could see another $1.2 million.<\/p>\n

For Paul Filicetti and Matthew English, who were visiting Cody last week from Missoula, the fee increase hadn\u2019t factored into their trip.<\/p>\n

They planned to drive home over the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone\u2019s Northeast Entrance, and hadn\u2019t thought much about what entry fees might be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose I would notice it, but it wouldn\u2019t make me avoid the park,\u201d Filicetti said. \u201cI just hope the money goes back to the parks and goes toward a good cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials in both parks have said the additional revenue will help fund resource protection, infrastructure improvements, visitor facilities and other projects.<\/p>\n

Contact Ruffin Prevost at 307-213-9818 or ruffin@yellowstonegate.com. Reprinted with permission from YellowstoneGate.com<\/a>,\u00a0an\u00a0independent, online news service about Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and their gateway communities<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CODY, WYO. \u2014 Plenty of people will tell you that a visit to a national park like Yellowstone or Grand Teton is something you can\u2019t put a price on. But entry fees for both parks went up June 1, and despite some initial concerns, early indications are that most visitors either haven\u2019t noticed or don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":7012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[992,2637,286,2638,119],"class_list":["post-7011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversions","tag-grand-teton-national-park","tag-jonathan-jarvis","tag-national-park-service","tag-traci-weaver","tag-yellowstone-national-park","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}