Office of The Secretary

For Immediate Release: November 26, 1996

Contact: John Wright 202/208-6416

Implementing a plan that received broad bipartisan support in Congress, the Interior Department announced today that America's public lands will soon receive much needed financial support from a test fee demonstration program. Through new and revised recreational user and entrance fees authorized by Congress, the Department hopes to raise additional funds to improve recreation services and help make infrastructure repairs to 106 selected public land sites.

"Even with the pilot fee increase, a family of four can enjoy a week's visit to Yosemite, Yellowstone, or Glacier National parks for less than it cost to see a first run movie,"

said Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "While everything else has gone up in price over the past 70 years, Yellowstone is still $10 per car. That's less than the price of a good video of the park, and much less than it cost to visit an imitation Yellowstone at an amusement park in Florida."

"I am pleased to see Secretary Babbitt has made good progress with the recreation fee demonstration program that was provided through the Interior appropriations efforts," said Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies. "I encourage the Department of the Interior to move swiftly with its implementation."

Senator Gorton's colleague in the House also voiced support for the fee demonstration project. "I am pleased the Department of the Interior is moving ahead with the fee program. The American people cherish the public lands and we all recognized that the needs are enormous and growing," said Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies. "Tax dollars alone can no longer fully satisfy the demand for increased recreation opportunities and facilities. This will provide much needed financial resources for the areas collecting fees to enhance the visitor's experience."

Entrance fees at the four largest parks will increase to $20 per car for seven days. Fees at most other identified sites will range from $2 per person to about $20 per car. Those "closer to home" sites like Shenandoah National Park will cost visitors $10 per vehicle, or $20 for an annual pass. Each recreation site in the project will use the additional revenue for specific improvements. For example, it will enable Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in Wyoming and Montana to rehabilitate campgrounds and open new trails. It will allow for the repair of 60 miles of trails in

Georgia's Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, give visitors to Everglades National Park new grills and picnic tables, put visitors at California's Yosemite National Park on new shuttle buses, and provide for handicapped access to the best fishing at Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, south of Minnesota's Twin Cities. Hunters at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico will benefit from 50 acres of rehabilitated wetland habitat, and Texas campers will have campsites available at Amistad National Recreation.

"These fees will be used to improve the visitor experience at the sites where they are collected and will be targeted for much needed repairs and improvements that have been delayed because of budget shortfalls," Babbitt said.

The National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have identified 106 of 1,880 sites, which will impact about 5.6 percent of recreational sites, to participate in the three-year test fee demonstration project. The project was authorized

by Congress to test new entrance and user fee collection at up to 300 sites (100 per bureau). Additional sites may be added to participate in the project as public input and discussions with local community leaders are completed.

The additional revenue will be used to enhance operations and improve facilities at public land sites. Fees currently collected are deposited into the Treasury and are distributed by the Congress through the appropriations process. The test fee demonstration project authorized by the Omnibus Consolidated Recessions and Appropriations Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-134) allows the collecting sites to keep up to 80 percent of the new fees on site and target the remaining 20 percent to sites in the most need.

Over the years, budgetary requirements have not kept pace with inflation. The additional revenue under the test demonstration project will be used to make additional funds available for repairs and improvements to roads, buildings, campgrounds, and nature trails. Some of the money will be used to improve educational programs, signs and exhibits, as well as visitor safety.

"Our highest priority as we implement the test fee demonstration program is to articulate to the public the need for their participation and support in order to maintain healthy, thriving and accessible public lands," said Babbitt.

The bureaus have worked with local areas to develop fair and equitable fee collection programs. While public reactions indicate that most visitors support some fee increases as long as the funds stay with the site where they are collected, the Department will solicit opinions and advice at each identified site through a public outreach and involvement process. When the public involvement process is complete, it will help establish fee levels and potential infrastructure improvements.

"Public input, suggestions, ideas, and feedback are crucial to the success of this three-year demonstration project," Babbitt said. "We stand ready with the American public to rededicate ourselves to the task of enhancing and preserving our public lands."

A broad section of programmatic and geographically diverse sites have been identified to participate in the pilot fee demonstration project. As designated sites are announced, each local site will provide an explanation of the intended use of the revenue, allowance for frequent local use and evaluation procedures for measuring success of the project.

To obtain a list of sites selected to participate in the test fee demonstration project and a brief explanation of how the new revenue will be used, please contact the respective bureau's public affairs office.

Bureau of Land Management (202) 452-5125 17 sites identified

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (202) 219-3861 42 sites identified

National Park Service (202) 208-6843 47 sites identified

- DOI -