RV enthusiasts and other visitors to California State Parks will soon pay more to visit their favorite park — providing it’s still open. Day-use and camping fees will increase Aug. 17 to help offset recent state budget reductions and help keep parks open that might otherwise be forced to close. Partners in the public and private sectors are still being sought, as the fee increase will help keep some parks open, but not all. “In these dire economic times, we can no longer afford to keep our fees at their current levels,” said State Parks Director Ruth Coleman. “The people of California understand that by charging more, we will be able to keep more parks open and preserved for these and future generations.”
Beginning Aug. 17, day-use parking fees will increase by $2 to $5, and camping fees will increase by $10 to $21 a night. Camping reservations made prior to that date will be honored at the lower price. Annual passes will go back on sale immediately at the existing price of $125. In future months, additional fee and pass increases are possible as state parks assesses how the partnership program stretches the reduced budget funding to help keep parks open.
A list of specific parks where fee adjustments will occur will be made available when they go into effect. In deciding which parks will receive a fee increase, and by how much, park managers are evaluating attendance, with higher fees charged where demand is greatest. In that way, the fee increase will have the least effect on attendance, resulting in a revenue gain. Managers will watch revenues closely, and may make adjustments to particular fees throughout the year.
It should be noted that these increases do not raise park revenues to the level of selfsustainment for the system. Doing that would require steep increases that would price people out of their public park system. These increases are another tool in the efforts being taken by California State Parks to keep more parks open during this time of budget cuts and employee furloughs.
The department continues to seek support from cities, counties, corporations and nonprofit organizations who may want to sponsor or operate particular parks to help keep them open. Further, park managers have been reducing services and modifying their operations by closing portions of parks and reducing operating hours. “We have loyal visitors who truly love our parks,” added Coleman. “We will do our best to maximize the use of additional funds so that parks continue to be available for public enjoyment.”
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under California, state parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.