
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994                   TAG: 9404170053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NATIONAL PARK FEES MAY BE INCREASING

On the cusp of the nation's peak vacation season, the National Park Service unveiled a plan Friday that could increase visitor fees to the national parks to as much as $5 per person and ease restrictions against private or corporate donations to the public lands.

The proposal, billed by the Clinton administration as a reform of the national park system, would eliminate congressional caps on national park fees and give Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt the authority to raise them unilaterally.

If the Interior Department plan is approved by Congress - in what promises to be an uphill fight - it would abandon the system of charging by the carload and enable the department to assess an entry fee against each person in a vehicle.

Visitors to California's popular Yosemite National Park could expect to pay $5 each, up from $5 per carload or $3 per individual.

At other popular parks, such as the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona or Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming, individual entry fees would rise only a dollar, to $5. But the blanket charge of $10 per car would be discontinued.

In addition, the park service would raise new funds by establishing higher user fees for camping, docking or use of horse trails.

Park officials said the proposal would increase overall revenues $72 million by 1996. And in a significant departure from current practice, a portion of the money raised would be returned directly to the parks - a reform that officials said would boost both the collection of the fees and the flagging morale of overworked park rangers.

"We believe people are prepared to pay more," if they believe their park fees will improve the parks they visit, said George Frampton Jr., assistant secretary of the Interior.

But the plan promises to stir controversy on Capitol Hill, where it would have to win approval before it could be implemented. Historically, Congress has been reluctant to give up authority over national park fees.

And by giving Babbitt discretion to set fees and seek the public-private partnerships, the reform plan would return the national park management practices to the 1970s, before Congress established the caps on entry fees nationwide.

by CNB