GAO REPORTS TO CONGRESS
Park fee system praised
Most-popular parks' fiscal needs will be met soon, but others face long wait for funds
By MICHAEL MILSTEIN
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
Proceeds from higher entrance fees at national parks such as Yellowstone may eventually make decrepit facilities a thing of the past, a federal report says.

The report to Congress also says parks should take advantage of innovative fee structures to encourage people to visit during off-peak periods.

Such an arrangement might reduce the "black market" for weekly entrance passes that has arisen in Yellowstone, the report said.

The General Accounting Office report found that the new fee demonstration program authorizing higher fees at federal recreation sites has nearly doubled fee revenue since 1996, the year before the higher fees went into effect.

Beginning in 1997, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks doubled their basic entrance fee from $10 to $20 per vehicle; a single fee allows entrance to both parks. Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, which previously charged no fee, instituted a fee of $5 per vehicle per 24-hour period. They were among 100 new National Park Service sites to increase fees under the three-year fee demo program, which most expect Congress to extend indefinitely.

Revenues from the higher fees boosted Grand Teton's income by nearly 50 percent above its established 1998 operating budget and added nearly 25 percent to Yellowstone's operating budget of $22.4 million. Such dramatic increases should allow parks to take large steps toward eliminating the estimated $6 billion maintenance backlog afflicting parks nationwide.

"At sites with backlogs of needs for maintenance, resource preservation and protection, and visitor services, this level of additional revenues will be sufficient to eliminate the backlog over several years - assuming the program is extended and that existing appropriations remain stable," the GAO report said.

But the report also pointed out that agencies including the National Park Service chose to increase fees at parks that had the most potential to generate added revenue, which may not necessarily be the parks where maintenance work is most needed.

"At sites outside the demonstration program or sites that do not collect much fee revenues, the backlog of needs may remain or further development of the site may not occur," the report said. "As a result, some of the agencies' highest-priority needs may not be addressed."

In fact, some parks have realized an embarrassment of riches thanks to the higher fees. Under the fee demo program, 80 percent of fee revenues stay in the park where they are collected while the remainder is distributed to smaller parks or those that do not charge fees.

Fees at Zion National Park in Utah, for instance, last year produced about $4.5 million - matching the park's original $4.5 million operating budget for 1998. Managers there "might have difficulty preparing and implementing enough projects to use the available funds if "a new $20-million shuttle bus system were not currently planned, the report said.

The report questioned whether Congress should reconsider its mandate that parks keep 80 percent of fees they collect and instead allow for more money to be distributed to other parks that do not have the same potential to generate fees.

Congress directed agencies under the fee demonstration program to test innovative approaches to charge and collect fees. Parks such as Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park have, for instance, installed devices similar to automatic teller machines at park entrances or in gateway towns, allowing visitors to purchase entrance permits in advance.

Grand Canyon National Park "has dedicated one of the four lanes at its entrance station for visitors who have already purchased their entrance passes," the report said. "Thus, visitors who use the machines outside the park can avoid lines of cars waiting to pay fees at the park's entrance station."

Neither Yellowstone nor Grand Teton have tested such machines.

In another instance, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is experimenting with selling hiking and camping permits over the Internet, which may make the process more convenient for visitors. Although Yellowstone charges a basic fee good for entrance to the park over a seven-day period, other sites have begun charging lower fees for shorter periods.

"Fees that vary with use are more equitable than a single fee for all visitors regardless of use, as has been the traditional practice at many federal recreation sites," the report said.

Since Yellowstone sells only entrance permits good for seven days, some visitors who stay for only a few days then resell their passes to others in a kind of "black market" outside the park.

"Even though the entrance pass is nontransferable and selling a pass is illegal and subject to a $100 fine, the park does not have an estimate of the extent of the situation," the GAO report said. "The park has not experimented with an entrance fee for visits of less than seven days, a pricing option that would be likely to address the illegal resale of passes."

"Given the potential benefits of differential pricing to both the agency and the visitors, an opportunity exists for the Park Service to experiment with such pricing at a small sample of demonstration sites."

Some BLM and U.S. Forest Service sites have also instituted lower fees for visitors who visit during the week, instead of busier weekends. The GAO faulted the National Park Service for not testing such new approaches.

"While the agency certainly does not need to retool its program or use differential pricing arrangements at each of its sites, the Park Service could build on what it has already done," the report said. "Specifically, it could look for ways, where appropriate, to provide greater equity in fees to give visitors incentives to use parks during less busy periods, thus reducing demand on park facilities and resources during the busiest times."

Discounting fees during periods of low use "would make fees more equitable for visitors and may change visitation patterns somewhat to enhance economic efficiency and reduce overcrowding and its effects on parks' resources," the report said.