PORT ANGELES — It’s “doable” to phase in proposed large entrance-fee hikes in Olympic National Park over three years rather than imposing them in one fell swoop, Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum said Tuesday.
Creachbaum, appearing at the Port Angeles Business Association’s regular breakfast meeting, was urged to spread out the increases that include a hike for a current $15 seven-day pass to $25 and a raise of a $30 annual pass to $50, both 67 percent increases.
“I think that’s a great suggestion, and I think that’s doable in the proposal,” Creachbaum said at the meeting, attended by 29 participants.
The nation’s 131 national parks that charge entrance fees are considering fee hikes to fund maintenance projects — not day-to-day operations — and are collecting comments on the proposal.
At Olympic National Park, an individual pass without a vehicle would rise from $5 to $12, a 140 percent increase, while the motorcycle fee would jump from $5 to $20, a 300 percent increase.
Campground fees, currently $10 to $18, would range from $15 to $25 under the pricing model for parks in the category that includes Olympic National Park.
Rocky Mountain National Park has proposed phasing in fee increases, park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said in a later interview Tuesday.
Comments on the proposal can be submitted through Dec. 31 at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/OLYMfees.
“It’s that old retail thing call sticker shock, that was my first thought,” Ed Bedford, owner of BRP Enterprises — which does business as Bedford’s Gourmet Sodas — told Creachbaum.
“It would be wonderful if this was implemented over a three-year period and not a one-year period.
“It would be a lot easier for you to sell and us to sell and not maybe face a decline in visitorship.”
Bedford’s assertions were similar to comments from former City Councilman Don Perry, local historian and owner of Heritage Tours, who called the increase “drastic.”
“When you increase rates, visitorship goes down,” Perry said.
“I’ve seen this happen so many times.
“If you hit people all at once, you are going to have that effect.”
Said Creachbaum: “I hear you, and I hope you’ll be making that comment” as part of the input process.
New fees could be in place by next summer.
Maynes said Olympic National Park officials will forward comments on the proposal by mid-January to the Park Service’s regional office in San Francisco.
The regional office will submit a report on the proposal to the national office in Washington, D.C., by March 2, with a decision expected later in the spring, Maynes said.
“The majority of fees have not increased in nine years,” she said.
The goal “if supported by civic engagement” is for all parks to align with proposed fee increases by 2017, according to an Aug. 19 memo to regional office directors from Park Service Director Jon Jarvis that was obtained by The Denver Post.
“If there is significant public controversy, a park may choose not to implement new fees, may phase in the new rates over three years, or delay the new rates until 2016 or 2017,” Jarvis wrote.
The park’s $12.9 million budget includes $2.5 million in park fees — 80 percent, or about $2 million, of which pays for projects in the park, Maynes said.
The park has $23 million in “critical deferred maintenance” projects as part of $200 million in maintenance projects that need to be completed, Maynes said.
Fee revenue has paid for rehabilitating 90 miles of park trails and electrical service in the Kalaloch campground and on a current $1.14 million project to renovate the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center.
Six park sewage systems, 350 buildings throughout the park and “countless” bridges need to be monitored and maintained, Creachbaum told the breakfast audience.
“It’s all about maintaining visitor access,” she said.
“A long list of things need to be fixed.”
The park has had 3.3 million visitors in 2014, already exceeding the total for 2013, and recorded the third best September, with 394,495 visitors.
Creachbaum said the park continues to work with local residents to increase visitor access to Hurricane Ridge during the winter months.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
