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Contact: Cody Goraczkowski, 507-825-5464
Pipestone National Monument Will Increase Entrance Fees Beginning January 1, 2016 Pipestone, MN. –Starting on January 1, 2016, Pipestone National Monument will increase entrance fees for visitors in order to fund important maintenance and improvement projects within the park.
"This modest increase in fees will allow us to continue to protect, preserve and share the special places here at Pipestone National Monument with current visitors and future generations," said Pipestone National Monument Superintendent Glen H. Livermont. "After carefully considering the impact of a fee increase on visitors and community members, the National Park Service came to the conclusion that this is the right course of action to improve facilities and services important to visitors." Entrance fees have supported a wide range of projects that improve the park and visitor experiences, including construction of a concrete sidewalk and picnic table pads at the Three Maidens picnic area to improve access for persons with disabilities, widening and repaving the Circle Trail to improve access for all visitors, installation of drinking fountains with the "bottle fill" option to provide visitors with reusable bottles the opportunity to fill them, replacing hand dryers in visitor center restrooms with high output models to quickly dry hands, and replacing visitor seating in the theater. Additional revenue from this fee increase will be used in the rehabilitation of the monument visitor center museum, construction of a pedestrian/bicycle access trail from Hiawatha Avenue to the visitor center, funding 2016 centennial celebration activities, replacing the film theaters audio visual equipment, developing and installing wayside exhibits along the Circle Trail, and continue to improve facilities, infrastructure, and offering expanded visitor services. In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. To solicit public input, Pipestone National Monument launched a civic engagement campaign in December 2014. During the public comment period, the park received two formal comments, which were divided in support of the fee increase. About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 407 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice. |
Last updated: January 8, 2016