Yellowstone is proposing several changes to park entrance fees.

Yellowstone National Park

The public is encouraged to attend one of the following
public meetings to learn more about the proposed fee changes:

Tuesday, November 11, 2014 in Cody, Wyo.:
Holiday Inn at Buffalo Bill Village 6:30-8:00 pm

Wednesday, November 12. 2014 in Jackson, Wyo.:
The Lexington 6:30-8:00 pm

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 in Bozeman, Mont.:
Hilton Garden Inn 6:30-8:00 pm

Yellowstone is proposing several changes to park entrance fees.

Currently, visitors pay $25 for a 7-day pass for a single, non-commercial vehicle entry into both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, with the current cost of an annual two-park pass at $50.

The park is proposing to offer a 3-day Yellowstone only pass for $30. A 7-day pass good for both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks would be available for $50. An annual pass to Yellowstone only will be $60.

Source:
http://www.nps.gov/

Public meetings are just the first step in the process of rule making. It's a looooong way from being a sure thing. People over 62 with Senior passes, Golden Age Passports or whatever they are called these days and in the future can still take a carload of people into all the national parks and monuments they want for free.

Other means are being examined to increase funding and make the Nat'l Parks more self sufficient, including installing cell towers and broadband.

Don't lose sleep over this.

Jim

Yellowstone

Please note:

Motor vehicle traffic is not permitted through Yellowstone National Park’s west entrance from early November to late April every year. However, the entrance remains open to hikers and cross-country skiers year-round. Guided tours on oversnow vehicles (snowmobiles and snowcoaches) are available mid-December through mid-March.

The only entrance that remains open year-round to motor vehicles is the north entrance, 170 miles (3 hours drive) (from WorldMark) West Yellowstone during the winter months.

. . . and it is not just Yellowstone NP. All of them are having to take a hard look at revenue streams.

On the National Parks Traveler Facebook page, they are asking about preferred means of obtaining park literature as they consider going all digital. I've also been told they are considering charging for printed maps, etc. at the parks.

Voice your opinion!

Visit Montanta - Two National Parks - Glacier & Yellowstone


MONTANA

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State Fish: Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout

State Gemstones: Sapphire & Agate

State Motto: Oro y Plata (Gold and Silver)


Order a free official Montana guide & state highway map
http://www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/document-orderform.shtml

Yellowstone National Park - 57 Photo Albums on flickr


Download free, public domain images of Yellowstone

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I just did an abbreviated two day visit in Glacier NP in September. It is beautiful. The landscape is prettier than Yellowstone, but for the wildlife viewing, you cannot top Yellowstone (at least not in Montana).

In Glacier we saw one grizzly (as a dot, way off), a black bear that crossed in front of us (but that was on the Canadian side of the park) and a large big horn ram that also crossed in front of us on the GTSR. We also saw some small sheep near the Logan Pass VC, right at the road.

For anyone interested, here is a link to my FB photo album from that trip.

This is the big horn looking back at us

The National Park Service is in the process of doubling the entry fees pretty much across the board throughout the system. They are tinkering with some of the fees on the margins, but basically the costs will double.

The reason being given for the increases is to provide needed improvements to the parks (the individual parks keep 80% of their entry fee revenue) ahead of the NPS Centennial in 2016. I'd personally be amazed if any cell towers or broadband were included, given the backlog of billions of dollars of already-approved capital improvement projects throughout the system. Hopefully, they'll use the money for basics like bathrooms before they do niceties. Cell towers, in particular, would violate the wilderness restrictions in many parks.

However, there are several consolations to the price increases. The first is that, most of the time, the entry fee is for unlimited visits for a period of seven days from purchase. Compare that to what you would pay for a single day visit to most state parks and you'll see the value.

The second consolation is that most parks have annual passes currently ranging from $25-$50. Those will probably double too, but still a great value for locals.

There is also the America The Beautiful Pass -- currently $80 -- which covers entry, not only to the 400 National Park Service sites, but also to all National Forests, US Fish and Wildlife sites, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Land Reclamation. That's about 1,000 places nationwide.

The America The Beautiful pass is FREE for all active-duty military personnel AND their dependents.

The Senior Pass (one-time $10 purchase for US Citizens and permanent residents 62 and older) is a lifetime pass to all of the locations covered by the America The Beautiful Pass. The Access Pass, for persons with permanent disabilities, is a FREE lifetime pass with the same benefits.

JimMIA said:

However, there are several consolations to the price increases. The first is that, most of the time, the entry fee is for unlimited visits for a period of seven days from purchase. Compare that to what you would pay for a single day visit to most state parks and you'll see the value.

Click to expand...

Just parking the car for a couple of days at Disney World costs me more than the currently weekly entrance fee to a major National Park. National Parks are one of the greatest values on the planet. Doubling the fees wouldn't do anything to keep me (and I'm guessing most others) away.

Our National Parks are some of the beautiful parks in the world and some of the last treasures left in the USA.