After alarming park visitors last year with a proposed fee increase that would have more than doubled, or nearly tripled, the entrance fee to national parks, the National Park Service announced Thursday that it will raise entrance fees by a much more modest amount. Fees in most parks will increase by $3 to $5; however, Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent David Smith told Z107.7 News that entrance fees for our local national park have not kept up with the fee increases that other parks have experienced. The fees for the Joshua Tree National Park annual pass and the motorcycle pass will increase by $15, while the weekly vehicle pass increases by $5 and the pedestrian pass increases by $3. Smith said 80 percent of the fee increases will stay in the park and will provide much needed revenue for a backlog of maintenance projects.
Some of the projects under consideration include new asphalt in the Black Rock campground and renovating the spaces to fit larger RVs; a new visitor’s center at Cottonwood; new trailhead and parking for Samuelson’s Rock; and most importantly, moving the Joshua Tree entrance gate further into the park about a quarter mile and expanding the entrance to four lanes with three separate entrance stations to reduce the backlog of cars waiting to get in to the most popular entrance of the park. The increased fees are scheduled to go into effect June 1.
https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/entrance-fee-prices.htm#CP_JUMP_5865491
