OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — How do you feel about paying more than it costs now — in some cases, more than double — to visit Hurricane Ridge or the Hoh Rain Forest next summer?
Olympic National Park is asking for your comments on that possibility.
The National Park Service in August broached a proposal for fee hikes at the 131 national parks that charge entrance fees.
That includes Olympic.
The price of a seven-day vehicle pass would go from $15 to $25, and the cost of an annual pass would climb from $30 to $50, both a nearly 67 percent hike.
An individual pass, without a vehicle, would rise from $5 to $12, a 140 percent increase, and the motorcycle fee would jump from $5 to $20, a 300 percent increase.
Campground fees, currently $10 to $18, would range from $15 to $25 under the pricing model for parks in the category that includes Olympic National Park.
Ranger-guided snowshoe walks at Hurricane Ridge would double, from $5 to $10.
Comments can be submitted through Dec. 31 at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/OLYMfees.
Park Service Director Jon Jarvis notified regional directors in an Aug. 19 memo obtained by The Denver Post that they were authorized to “conduct stakeholder outreach through civic engagement to gauge support for possible fee changes to entrance, expanded amenity and special recreational permit fees.”
Individual parks are to report to the regional office, which has been instructed to reply to the national office by March 2.
“Each park should identify how the additional revenue will be used to improve the park experience,” Jarvis’ memo said.
“Sharing this information will be an important part of each park’s civic engagement plan.”
If approved, the new fees could be in place by next summer.
The proposed fee increases are to allow parks to enhance visitor facilities and services as the Park Service’s 2016 centennial celebration approaches, Jarvis said in his memo.
The goal “if supported by civic engagement” is for all parks to align with proposed fee increases by 2017, according to the memo.
“If there is significant public controversy, a park may choose not to implement new fees, may phase in the new rates over three years, or delay the new rates until 2016 or 2017,” Jarvis wrote.
If approved, Mount Rainier National Park may also require a $25 fee for vehicles. Other parks, including Bryce Canyon and Zion in Utah and Yosemite in California, could charge $30 in 2015.
Fee revenue is used to pay for improvements to facilities and visitor services, rather than day-to-day expenses, national park officials have said.
Improvements include trail and bridge repair, new visitor center exhibits and wilderness information programs, park officials said.
Fees at Olympic and most national parks have not changed since January 2006.
It was free to enter Olympic National Park from its establishment in 1938 until a $3 fee was imposed in 1987.
The vehicle fee was raised to $10 in 1997 and to $15 in 2006, park officials said.
“What we’ve seen across the Park Service in other areas is fee increases really haven’t had an effect on visitation,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said Friday.
“What’s been seen is an increase in annual pass sales,” Maynes added.
“It might mean an increase in other kinds of passes.”
Since 2010, Olympic National Park has used entrance fees to repair 90 miles of trail, the Quinault North Shore and East Beach roads, and the electrical system at the Kalaloch visitor area, officials said in a news release issued Friday.
Fees were used to restore campsites at Olympic Hot Springs and Lake Angeles, replace a bridge at Staircase Rapids, install interpretative exhibits and provide wilderness information for 30,000 annual visitors, officials said.
This year, entrance fees have funded new exhibits at the Hoh Visitor Center, accessible parking spaces and walkways at the Hoh and Quinault visitor centers, trail repairs in the Hoh and Sol Duc valleys, and south Pacific coast route and wilderness information for hikers and backpackers.
Eighty percent of the fees collected at Olympic National Park stay at Olympic.
The rest is used to fund projects in the 270 national parks that do not collect entrance fees.
“While we rely on fee revenue to upgrade and improve park facilities and services, there are also a number of ways for people to receive free entry to Olympic National Park,” said Sarah Creachbaum, park superintendent.
Olympic National Park hosts nine fee-free days throughout the year.
Children 15 and younger are admitted free.
Park-specific fees do not apply to those who have an interagency pass such as the $80-per-year America the Beautiful pass, a $10 lifetime senior pass, a free military pass or a free access pass for those with disabilities.
In 2013, federal cuts sliced Olympic National Park’s budget by 5 percent, or $639,000 from the $12.8 million operating budget.
The park cut back on landscaping and interpretive programs, delayed opening of some seasonal roads and closed some of the smaller campgrounds.
According to a July report from the National Park Service, Olympic National Park attracted 3.09 million visitors in 2013 and had 3.34 million visits from last Jan. 1 through Sept. 30.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
