Date: September 8, 2015
Contact: Paula Ogden-Muse, 928-643-7105 ex. 216
Starting Thursday, September 10, Pipe Spring National Monument will increase entrance fees to visitors in order to fund important maintenance and improvement projects within the monument. The standard entrance fee at the visitor center will increase to $7.00 per person.
Since 2001, with the inception of a shared, partnership visitor center and cultural museum on Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians reservation lands at the entrance to the Monument pursuant to intergovernmental agreement, entrance fees have been shared with the Tribe, with $4.90 of the current individual fee to the National Park Service (NPS), and $2.10 of the fee to the Tribe.
Entrance fees are not charged to persons under 16 years of age or holders of the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Senior, Access or Military Passes. These passes may be obtained at the Monument. "We want to keep the park affordable for all new and returning visitors and feel that the modest proposed increase is in line with similar fees for museum, recreational and park opportunities nationwide," said Park Superintendent John Hiscock. "And, the small amount of fee revenue generated and retained at the park is efficiently and effectively utilized to maintain park resources and facilities and better each and every visitor's experience."
Of the 401 parks, monuments, historic sites, recreation areas, and other units of the National Park system, 131 (about 1/3) collect entrance fees. This range of NPS sites that collect entrance fees retain between 65% and 100% of the fees received. Pipe Spring National Monument retains 96.5% of its generated fee revenue, amounting to approximately $30,000 per year in recent years. Those additional revenues assist with the completion of visitor enhancement and facility projects at the site including visitor center and exhibit maintenance and improvements, and historic structures and cultural landscape preservation and maintenance.
In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. To solicit public input, Pipe Spring National Monument launched a civil engagement campaign in December 2014. During the public comment period, the monument did not receive any formal comments.
