Keep parks affordable
Register-Herald Editorial
Eugene, Oregon
January 3, 2007
Not everyone can afford the price of admission at Disneyland or Great America. But no one – and especially no Oregonian – should be priced out of Crater Lake National Park, a crown jewel of the national park system.
The National Park Service has proposed doubling entrance fees to Crater Lake National Park. The move would increase the current $10 seven-day entrance pass, which admits a vehicle and its passengers to the park, to $20.
The federal agency also proposes raising entrance fees to $15 from $10 at Lava Beds National Monument in the Klamath Basin and other facilities under the 2005 Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. The law allows the Park Service to increase admission and other park fees to pay for improvements to visitor facilities and services.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne should zap this proposal even before the end of the 90-day comment period that began Jan. 1. While the entire park system clearly needs additional funds to address its monumental maintenance backlog, the fee increases would make admission to Crater Lake – and, to a lesser extent, the Lava Beds monument – unaffordable for some low-income Oregonians.
That’s unacceptable. It also reflects a troubling trend, particularly in the Northwest, where rising admission, parking, camping and other fees have begun to choke off public access to federal lands that should be open to all Americans, regardless of income.
In a recent letter to Kempthorne, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., noted that Crater Lake National Park has been bucking the national trend of declining park visitation – and that a primary reason has been steady visitation by Oregonians. The congressman rightly warned that doubling fees would deter regular trips by Oregon families, pushing Crater Lake toward the same downward trend in visitation as other parks across the nation.
DeFazio also cited surveys showing that the national parks are already too expensive for some Americans. Nearly 80 percent of Latino households, for example, say they do not visit national parks because of the cost. “It is difficult to comprehend how increasing fees promotes visitation and increases revenue for park units or the system at large,” DeFazio wrote, adding, “It simply defies the basic economic laws of supply and demand.”
In recent years Congress has signficantly increased the Park Service’s maintenance budget. If that’s insufficient, the Bush administration should ask lawmakers for more money and offset the budgetary effect by shaving a decimal point from the $45 billion in last-minute tax breaks approved in the last session.
DeFazio has an even better idea: He suggests that the Department of Interior require energy companies to pay their rightful share of revenue from oil drilling on public lands. Last year, the department’s own inspector general reported that Interior officials have attempted to cover up the bungling of oil leases that could end up costing U.S. taxpayers $10 billion in lost royalties. Those billions could go a long way toward clearing up the Park Service’s maintenance backlog, as well as operating budget shortfalls that run as high as 50 percent in some parks.
Kempthorne should keep in mind that Crater Lake isn’t Disneyland. The cost of visiting the park should be nominal or, better yet, free. Pricing low-income Oregonians out of admission to a park that is as much their birthright as any American’s is not acceptable.
Other pages in this section
- Gorgeous and Free: free, guided snowshoe hikes – December 27, 2007
- Chief Ranger Dave Brennan Retires This Month – December 31, 2007
- Finding Your Winter Wonderland – December 15, 2007
- Exploring Crater Lake in Winter: Volunteers Answer Pressing Questions – December 15, 2007
- A part of history: Annual Great Nordeen cross-country ski race links the past to the present – December 15, 2007
- Crater Lake Chief Ranger to Retire: Dave Brennan has been on the job for 7 1/2 years – December 3, 2007
- Into the Deep: Crater Lake’s ranking as one of the world’s deepest lakes varies by how list is determined – November 29, 2007
- Where to go for Thanksgiving snow: Mount Hood, Crater Lake offer best bets – November 21, 2007
- Lundy happy with progress at Crater Lake park – November 12, 2007
- Plotting a new course: Crater Lake superintendent Chuck Lundy to retire next year – November 12, 2007
- A bit of history – November 12, 2007
- Delegation Supporting Visitor Center at Crater Lake – November 11, 2007
- Walden, DeFazio Voice Support – November 11, 2007
- Crater Rim Drive closes Friday evening – November 7, 2007
- Follow-up on 2005 Ranger-Involved Shooting – November 5, 2007
- Source of the Rogue – November 01, 2007
- Unanimous Oregon Delegation Requests $2.5 Million for Crater Lake Visitor Center – October 31, 2007
- Crater Lake Seeks Volunteers – October 27, 2007
- Screaming wind downs forest trees: Crater Lake park, Prospect area hit by gusts of up to 60 mph – October 27, 2007
- Crater Lake Ski Patrol looking for members – October 18, 2007
- Crater Lake offers a compelling glimpse of the changing seasons – October 04, 2007
- Survival of the fittest for our man in Patagonia – September 30, 2007
- Crater Lake deep yields mysterious moss – September 15, 2007
- Cycle Oregon: This year’s tour includes Diamond, Crater Lakes – September 12, 2007
- Bicyclers pedal and party their way through state – September 10, 2007
- Fairview woman dies in Jeep accident near Crater Lake – September 03, 2007
- Remains of Long Missing Body at Crater Lake – August 29, 2007
- Free Admission Saturday – August 24, 2007
- Crater Lake Rim Runs Recap – August 13, 2007
- Runs Bring Out Veterans – August 13, 2007
- Runners Chase Personal Bests, Shed Baggage – August 12, 2007
- Pine Beetles Infest Crater Lake Rim – August 11, 2007
- See Crater Lake Panorama From Atop Garfield Peak – August 10, 2007
- Little-visited Sphagnum Bog a hotbed for botanists – August 6, 2007
- Crater Lake’s Mystery Moss – August 01, 2007
- Travelers Find Solace in Sights, Scenery – July 29, 2007
- Since You Asked: Espey Had Quite a Life – July 28, 2007
- Thinning to Cause Delays – July 19, 2007
- He made movies in Brooklyn, over 100 years ago – July 5, 2007
- Blue-green algae detected in Lemolo Lake – June 26, 2007
- Annie Springs Campground – June 17, 2007
- Cycle Oregon 2007: The Week Ride – Jun 3, 2007
- Crater Lake northern entrance opens today – May 24, 2007
- Mountain Climber Brian Smith – May 24, 2007
- Shadow Everest: Brian Smith – April 27, 2007
- Unraveling the secret of Crater Lake’s … Deep Moss – April 2, 2007
- National Park Service Listening Session: Gatlinburg, Tennessee – March 14, 2007
- National parks budget mostly a shell game – March 2, 2007
- Rainier third most dangerous U.S. volcano, USGS says – February 28, 2007
- New ‘America the Beautiful’ pass stirs controversy – February 23rd, 2007
- Post-Kim task force helps in finding man – February 21, 2007
- Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Experience Profiles William Steel, the “Father of Crater Lake” – February 13, 2007
- Task force formed to improve search efforts – February 11, 2007
- DeFazio wants Interior to rethink Crater Lake fee hike – January 3, 2007
- DeFazio Urges Interior Secretary to Reconsider Hike in Park Fees – January 2, 2007
- DeFazio against parks fee increase – January 2, 2007