DeFazio against parks fee increase
The Democrat-Herald
Albany, Oregon
January 2, 2007
The National Park Service wants to double the admission fee at Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park, and Congressman Peter DeFazio is against it.
DeFazio,D-4th District, said today he was trying to get the Park Service to drop its proposal.
He made the statement in a press release from his Washington office.
DeFazio last week wrote to the Secretary of the Interior urging him to strongly reconsider the proposal to increase fees at Crater Lake National Park and Lava Beds National Monument.
Under the proposal, entrance fees at Crater Lake would double, from $10 to $20, and fees at Lava Beds would increase from $10 to $15.
According to DeFazio, while visitation to national parks has been decreasing nationwide, Crater Lake National Park has bucked the trend, with its attendance holding steady for the past 10 years. Park officials attribute the steady visitation at Crater Lake to regular return visits by Oregonians.
“It doesn’t make sense to increase park fees while national parks are struggling to attract visitors,” DeFazio said. “I am concerned that the increase in fees at Crater Lake will discourage regular visits by Oregon families.“
“I agree that the national park system is in need of additional funding, but raising fees for park visitors will only drive visitors away. Instead, the Department of the Interior should raise the money it needs to improve the park system by collecting the royalties that oil companies owe the United States.”
The National Park Sercvice was closed today, and no one there could be reached for a comment on DeFazio’s points.
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