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NPS Photo
Lassen Volcanic National Park offers 106,372 acres of high meadows and valleys, and 150 miles of trails. Over 100 miles of these trails are open to horseback riders. Lassen Volcanic National Park offers three group camping stock corrals for overnight stock and pack animal recreationists at Juniper, Butte, and Summit Lakes. Lassen proposes to establish one flat rate fee for park visitors using park corrals and establish one central reservation system at Recreation.gov. Lassen has new and improved corrals and provides a secure and safe area for visitors stock which has replaced the old wooden posts and ropes system used in years past. Currently the park manages the horse corrals through an in-house reservation process, charging a corral visitor use fee of $16 per night at Butte and Summit Lake and $10 at Juniper Lake. A per horse fee of $4 for up to eight horses is also charged for each reservation made. This has caused some unnecessary burden on the visitor when plans changed and the number of horses varied from the original reservation. This Fee Change proposal enables the visitor to be charged a flat rate use fee and provide a central location at recreation.gov to make a reservation. In some cases fees would be decreased and in some cases be increased dependent upon the number of horses brought into the park. Averages show that stock corral users bring four horses per night for a total cost of $32 for Butte and Summit and $26 for Juniper. (Juniper does not provide water.) The proposal is to charge a flat rate of $35 for Butte and Summit Lake and $28 for Juniper Lake which includes the contractor cost of $9.98 for a call center reservation and $6.35 for an Internet reservation.
The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (2004), allows parks to collect and retain up to 80% of their fees. These funds pay for needed repairs and projects to improve visitor services and facilities such as improving hiking trails and campgrounds, replacing water and sewer systems, providing new exhibits and interpretive signs, providing accessibility to visitors with disabilities, and replacing deteriorated stock corrals. The park is interested in what visitor opinion is of this change. "We invite the public to give us their thoughts and comments on the addition of the stock corrals to Recreation.gov and the change to a flat rate for fees charged for use of the facility," stated Superintendent Koontz. Comments can be submitted to the park online at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/lavo or mailed to the park at the following address: Superintendent Darlene Koontz Comments submitted to the website or by mail are welcome at any time; however, they should be received no later than September 26, 2011. |
Last updated: February 28, 2015