Should US National Parks have free entrance?

Redwood National Park, Redwood Creek Trail. Author photo.

I had had this in the can for a little while, and I pushed it back to today because tomorrow is National Public Lands Day, one of NPS' free entry days. With that said, let's dig in.

(Spoiler alert: The header question is rhetorical.)

==

Short and sweet?

I think not.

This discussion came up as a subthread on Reddit's r/nationalpark about a month ago.

The person pushing it claimed that all developed nations outside the US have free admission.

In reality?

Not so much.

Per this link, 52 countries charge entrance fees for at least some national parks. (Table 1 is mislabeled at the link; it's actually, per body text, the charge for citizens in each country.) Besides the US, Australia as well as Canada are among "fully developed" nations that do so. "Relatively highly developed" countries would include Croatia, Costa Rica and maybe Russia, or it would be in the next tier with Brazil, Argentina and Chile. And, since people on average in developed nations have more money, to me, rather than fully subsidize national parks, on an income percentage basis, the US is actually, arguably, cheap. 

No, I don't like buying an Access Pass each year. (I will be able to nail one lifetime one, for what's left of that, in 18 months.)

But?

First, this is Merikkka with dysfunctional, debt-ridden national government that has already starved the NPS.

Get rid of access fees, and if they're replaced at all by general budget appropriations, that won't last.

Now, that said, some national parks, and some non-park NPS units, and some non-NPS national monument units, are free already, for a variety of reasons.

On actual national parks? It's Redwoods, because of its length and you can't put kiosks on the 101, most the national parks and preserves of Alaska, North Cascades, Great Basin, Voyageuers, Channel Islands, and a few back east. Here's the list. The Alaskan parks are generally roadless and undeveloped. Voyageuers, Channel Islands and Biscayne are water-only, or water-transportation only. That said, Isle Royale charges; dunno why Channel Islands doesn't. And, yes, in both cases, you've got to pay your ferry fee. I'd change that at Channel Islands.

Hot Springs, like Redwoods, I get for obvious reasons; and you do pay to visit bath houses. North Cascades is broadly similar. So is Great Smoky.

That said, in the case of the last? Yeah, it invites freeloading abuse. And, yes, it would cause a shit-ton of further backups, I know, based on a 35-years-ago visit that left me with no desire to repeat it. But, that's the whole point. All those visitors are causing a shit-ton of of infrastructure damage. That said, the parking tags partially offset that, but a weekly should be $25, not $15, and a daily should be $10 not $5. Fix that, and I'm somewhat better, though still not perfect. Flip side to that is that if I have a parks pass, I shouldn't have to buy parking tags. Until and unless that is fixed, that's further incentive to not go back.

The other eastern national parks I don't get. Even if there's no through road, you can charge fees at trailheads. I mean, King's Canyon, not counting the General Grant Grove "thumb," has no through road, and thus no entry gate, and it's still got fees.

As for the congestion in general?

Get the NPS into the 21st century — but not like it does with adding a shit-ton of new cell towers.

Instead, make the America the Beautiful Pass scannable just like toll tags are in states that have toll roads. If you don't buy a pass in advance, you'll want one in advance. And, you could also scan it into a parking tag kiosk at a place like Great Smoky. 

The congestion at entrance gates would be eased. You want maps and literature? Download them in advance off a park's website, or else stop at a visitor center.

As for people needing a new pass? 

It's no problem to create a pass-purchase kiosk outside the gate arms at an entrance kiosk. This would also benefit international visitors, as another way to get their pass after getting here. In addition, besides credit cards, you could have a QR code scan, Apple Pay, etc. on a smartphone. You could also, as part of that, just like an airline boarding pass, have an electronic version of your parks pass on your phone.

Easing without elimination might still be problematic for some.

But, you know what?

First, this might lead some people to less visited parks, or to entirely non-NPS sites. And, that's good. In Colorado, for example, I spent half of my vacation two years ago in two lovely places entirely outside the NPS — Grand Mesa and the Arkansas Headwaters area.

Second, the physical stopping before the arm barrier pops back up would also encourage mental slowing down. Plus, with more modern signage at those gates, people would get told right off the bat what maximum speed limits are, the prohibition on drones and other things like pet rules. (And, doorknob yes, the "no drones" needs to be posted in huge letters at every park entrance.)

All of this is better than total subsidies on entry fees, or foundations spun off of Fortune 500 companies making big gifts to the capitalist front group of the National Park Foundation.

Update: I posted this back at r/NationalPark and some of the comments are uninformed or not well thought out, if I'm charitable, or strawmanning from people who are cheap-privileged, if I'm not.

Here's some reality, per a comment I made there, on waiving fees for poor people.

Family of four, two parents, two kids. Driving, own car, not rental and not flying.

Taking off 5 days / 4 nights because they can't do longer.

Driving a total of 1,800 miles in vehicle that averages 25 mpg. That's 72 gals of gas. At $3, that's $225.

Let's say they don't camp, but will do a KOA type place instead of full motel, in a KOA cabin. I'm guessing $50/night? That's $200.

Extra food spending beyond the normal at home? $100.

Souvenirs? $100 if they're fairly frugal.

All that's more than the $80 pass cost and it totals $625 for a crammed budget trip. 

(I loved the Californian who claimed I was delusional in my pricing estimates. I said I didn't know on KOA, but laughed at his claim to be paying $6 a gallon for gas. All around the Bay Area, it's around $4.75. Under $4 all around the Southland, which I figured would be cheaper.)

Frankly, I suspect a lot of people who want free admission, beyond that person and some commenters here, simply want free admission for themselves. (Whether the root ground of this hasn't been thought through, or whether in some cases, the objections above are simply strawmanning? I don't know.) That said? If that's you, at least be honest. Also be honest about how likely you think the US Congress is to replace all that lost money. 

It's like taxes. Even that Patriotic Millionaires group doesn't truly "like" paying taxes. (And we'll ignore what business loopholes they use.) But, they "willingly accept" rather than "grudgingly accept." And, NPS entrance fees are like taxes.

This is also why non-millionaire true L/l libertarians can posture all they want, IMO. If they ever got in political office, and THEIR ox was going to be gored by a budget cut?