White Sands National Monument Will Increase Entrance Fees Beginning October 1 2015

Date: May 18, 2015

Contact: Becky Burghart, 575-479-6124 ext. 230 

Alamogordo, NM 

Starting on October 1, 2015, White Sands National Monument will increase entrance fees for visitors in order to fund important maintenance, visitor services, and interpretation projects within the monument. 

Current Fee Rate	Proposed Fee Rate
7- day Per Person Pass - $3.00	7- day Per Person Pass - $5.00
Park Specific Annual Pass - $20.00	Park Specific Annual Pass - $30.00

Children 15 years and younger will continue to enter for free and all other park passes remain unchanged (i.e., America the Beautiful, Federal Recreational Senior, Access, and Military Pass for active duty U.S. military). The entrance fee is $5.00 per adult regardless of the mode of transportation. Passes are valid for seven days. 

"This increase in fees will allow us to continue to protect, preserve, and share the special places here at White Sands with current visitors and future generations," said White Sands Superintendent Marie Sauter. "After carefully considering the impact of a fee increase on visitors and community members, we came to the conclusion that this is the right course of action to improve facilities and services important to visitors, while keeping White Sands affordable and still providing a great experience." 

Since 2004, more than $4.15 million of entrance fee dollars have supported a variety of park visitor services and projects including visitor center interpretive exhibits, vault restrooms in the dunefield, an accessible boardwalk, directional signs, trail development and maintenance, website development, development of the evening program area and picnic shelters. For an expanded list of fee-funded projects, visit: https://www.nps.gov/whsa/parkmgmt/yourdollarsatwork.htm. Additional revenue from this fee increase will provide new picnic shelters, upgrade the boardwalk, print park newspapers, brochures, and maps, and develop trail signs. 

In the fall of 2014, the National Park Service conducted a nationwide review of entrance fees. To solicit public input, White Sands launched a 30 day civic engagement campaign in January 2015. During the public comment period, the White Sands received 115 formal comments. While most comments noted support for a modest increase, many respondents felt the original proposal might negatively affect the ability of visitors from surrounding communities to enter the monument. In response to public comments, the monument modified the proposal to the approved entrance fee rates as shown above. The new entrance fee rates will be implemented October 1, 2015.