Increase in National Park Fees Proposed

On the cusp of the peak vacation season, the National Park Service unveiled a plan Friday that could increase visitor fees at national parks to as much as $5 per person and ease restrictions against the use of private or corporate funds on public lands.

The proposal, billed by the Clinton Administration as a reform of the park system, would eliminate congressional caps on park fees and give the Interior secretary, currently Bruce Babbitt, the authority to raise them unilaterally.

If the Interior Department plan is approved by Congress--in what promises to be an uphill fight--it would abandon the system of charging fees by the carload and enable the department to assess an entry fee for each person in a vehicle.

Visitors to Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and the Death Valley National Monument in California could expect to pay $5 each, up from $5 per carload or $3 per individual, if the plan is approved. (Sequoia and Kings Canyon are administered as one park and one visitor fee would be charged for entry to both.)

At some of the nation’s most popular parks, like Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona or Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming, individual entry fees would rise to $5, an increase of only $1. But the blanket $10 charge per car, which allowed inexpensive entry to larger groups traveling together, would be discontinued.

In addition, the Park Service would raise new funds by establishing higher user fees for camping, docking or use of horse trails.

Park officials said the proposal would increase overall revenues by $72 million by 1996. In a significant departure from current practice, part of the money raised would be returned directly to the parks--a reform that officials said would boost both the collection of the fees and the morale of overworked rangers.

The funds would improve the rangers’ ability to maintain park trails and other facilities, officials said, contending that rangers have increasingly had to cope with growing crowds and shrinking operating budgets.

The legislation would also give broad authority to the Interior secretary to enter into cost-sharing and operating agreements with local governments, private organizations and corporations. Details were not spelled out.

“We believe people are prepared to pay more” if they believe their park fees will improve the parks they visit, said George T. Frampton Jr., assistant secretary of the Interior. “This is the right way to go.”

But the plan promises to stir controversy on Capitol Hill, where it would have to win approval before it could be implemented. Historically, Congress has been reluctant to give up authority over national park fees.

By giving the Interior secretary the discretion to set fees and seek the public-private partnerships, the plan would return park-management practices to those of the 1970s, before Congress established caps on entry fees.

National park booster groups hailed the proposal as a good start in upgrading the quality of the parks, but some environmentalists warned that fee increases could put the public lands out of reach of some citizens.

The proposal to return a portion of the revenues directly to the parks also is likely to meet with opposition.

Under current practice dictated by Congress, park funds are placed in a special account within the Treasury. The money, along with additional appropriations from Congress, is disbursed among the nation’s 367 parks according to a formula submitted by the Interior Department and approved by Congress.

The bill proposed Friday would plow half of the newly raised revenues back into the parks directly. Park Service officials said that would give harried park rangers more incentive to collect fees--a task that often goes undone while rangers deal with more pressing problems.

An Interior Department audit released Friday indicated that the government is losing as much as $105 million a year by failing to collect charges already authorized by Congress.

According to the audit, only $68 million in fees was collected in 1993 from 273 million visitors to the parks, monuments and recreation areas--an average of less than 25 cents per person.

Park officials said that while they would like to collect more fees, they often are forced to leave collection stations unmanned because they lack the funds to hire more collectors.

In addition, the National Parks and Conservation Assn.--an independent group of national park users--estimated that the parks face a maintenance-and-repair bill of $2.2 billion--a figure that continues to grow.

Even if Friday’s proposal is approved, officials said, more needs to be done.

Reps. George Miller (D-Martinez) and Bruce F. Vento (D-Minn.), both leading members of the House Natural Resources Committee, are working on a more comprehensive proposal to reform the Park Service and find new ways to keep up with long-term maintenance-and-repair costs.

“An increase of $72 million in fees isn’t going to begin to deal with the backlog the National Park Service is now facing,” said Kathy Westra, speaking for the National Parks and Conservation Assn. “The Congress is going to have to bite the bullet and look at budgetary solutions to these problems because fees are not going to do the whole trick.”

Westra added that the association has deep reservations about proposals that would loosen the strictures against “partnerships” between the Park Service and private or corporate entities.

“There are things that need to be looked at very closely before we go into that sort of thing,” she said. “That leaves the door open to a lot of potential abuses that need to be thought about very carefully before rules are loosened.”

While Park Service officials were vague about how those strictures should be loosened, they said the Administration would be careful to avoid the kinds of controversies encountered by the Ronald Reagan Administration when it proposed greater private-sector cooperation in the operation of the parks.

“No one in this Administration wants to see ‘Yosemite, Brought to you by Coca-Cola,’ ” Frampton said.

Current Park Price List

President Clinton has asked Congress to impose $32 million in additional park fees, beginning next year. A look at the current system:

* Entrance fees: Charged at 136 national parks, monuments and historic sites. The entrance fees range from $2 a person to as much as $10 a carload at some of the most popular parks.

* User fees: Many parks and monuments also charge “user” fees, usually for special activities such as camping or guided tours. Parking is also considered a user fee.

* Total revenue last year: $68 million

* Total visitors: 273 million

* Average charge per visitor: 25 cents