The National Park Service is allowing an extra month for the public to comment on its proposal to more than double visitor fees for 17 popular national parks, mostly in the West.
The agency originally planned to accept comments through Thanksgiving, but its new deadline is Dec. 22, according to the Park Service website.
Under the proposal, the entrance fee for the Grand Canyon and other parks would rise from $30 to $70 per vehicle. Other parks would even bigger increases, from $25 to $70, during the busiest months of the year. Zion and Arches in Utah, for example, would impose those fees from May through September, while Maine’s Acadia and Virginia’s Shenandoah national parks would charge the higher prices in June through October.
The increases are meant to fund the $12 billion maintenance backlog at national parks and other infrastructure upgrades, the Interior Department says.
Democrats and national park groups have criticized the proposal, arguing Congress or the administration should pay for the maintenance at national parks, not visitors.
A Senate appropriations bill for next year released Monday would increase the National Park Service budget to include funding for the construction backlog at national parks.
