Increased fees to national parks and other federal recreation areas have nearly doubled revenues without discouraging visits, a government study has found.
Under a five-year experimental program for the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, recreational fee revenues increased from $93 million in fiscal 1996 to $179 million in fiscal 1998, according to the General Accounting Office. At the same time, visits to sites with higher fees increased by 5 percent in 1997, while visits to sites without such fees increased by 4 percent.
Elaine Sevy of the Park Service said she would like to see the program made permanent, saying that the extra revenues help reduce a $6 billion maintenance and repair backlog (Jim Abrams, AP/San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner, 12/2).
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