Cover Page MENU     Contents     Preface     1908-1940     1947-1967      1968-1972     1973-1974     1975-1980     1981-1982     Conclusion     Research Note     Appendix		Visitor Fees in the National Park System: A Legislative and Administrative History III. IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED... 1968-1972 Park Service Response: Camping Charges and Fee Study, 1969-1970 As this second amendment to the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act was making its way through the Congress, the National Park Service was finally planning to institute camping charges and reviewing its own fee program in advance of the congressional directive. Although camping charges could have been made as early as 1965, serious planning for them did not get underway until four years later. In April 1969 NPS Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., told the House Interior Committee that the Service would set camping fees "on the basis of what prevails locally." In a June 18 policy memorandum to the director, Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel declared, "Appropriate charges should be made for camping, except for backpack camping. " Opposition was anticipated from retirees and others who were accustomed to buying the Golden Eagle for universal access and enjoying free camping within the parks there after. But the Service finally overcame bureaucratic inertia and began to levy modest campsite fees in 1970. [21] Mindful of the expected termination of the existing Golden Eagle program on March 31, 1970, an eight-man NPS Fee Study Task Force undertook a comprehensive review of the Service's fee system during the latter part of 1969. The group interviewed representatives of other agencies and private entities providing recreation facilities, along with organizations supporting outdoor recreation. Its report proposed three types of NPS permits: daily entrance permits at $l-2 per car, or 50¢ - $2 per person at walk-in areas; a $10 annual "Parklands Passport" for admission to all areas, also conveying a $1 credit at Type A and B campgrounds; and camp and trailer site permits at $2 for Type A sites, $1 at Type B sites, and 25¢ per person at Type C (group) areas. If the existing interagency program were extended, the Golden Eagle would continue in lieu of the Parklands Passport. [22] As noted, the existing program was extended, but not until July 7, 1970--more than three months after the original authority expired on April 1 of that year. By then it was too late to print and sell Golden Eagles for 1970. As an interim measure, the Park Service issued a National Parklands Passport and made it interchangeable with a comparable Forest Service permit; the Golden Eagle per se would resume the following year. [23] NEXT> The 1972 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act Amendment 21Memorandum, Luis A. Gastellum to George B. Hartzog, Jr., Sept. 26, 1969, NPS Ranger Activities and Protection Division, Washington, D.C. (hereinafter cited as WASO-535). 22"Fee Study Report," Dec. 26, 1969, WASO-535. 23116 Congressional Record 20641.
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