National Public Lands Day shines light on reasonable entrance fees

September 27 was National Public Lands Day. To celebrate, the National Park Service (NPS) advertised free admission to national parks that normally charge an entrance fee. Most NPS sites offer free admission every day of the year.

A more appropriate term for the NPS to use would be “unpriced,” because while visitors didn’t have to pay an entrance fee on Saturday, the money required for NPS operations still came from somewhere. Theoretically, the money lost from entrance fees on National Public Lands Day was made up for through other sources, such as congressional appropriations.

But it’s not just on September 27 when most of the NPS’s funding comes from Congress. In FY25, their total request from all funding sources was $4.81 billion, of which $3.6 billion was discretionary. In 2024, the estimated revenue from recreation fees was only $355.5 million. Significant funding also comes from other sources like the Land and Water Conservation Fund and donations.

Some might say that this seems right; the people of the United States have decided (through their representatives) that we want to have national parks. So, it’s fair that all Americans pay for the NPS’s budget through tax dollars.

Yet some Americans will never visit a national park but still pay roughly $20 per year, on average, toward the NPS budget through taxes. Proponents argue that non-visitors should contribute to the NPS budget because they still receive some utility from just knowing that the national parks exist, but whatever utility that may be is trivial in comparison to that of a park visitor.

NPS has tried to address these problems by charging entrance fees and other types of user fees at some of the most popular sites. For example, the most expensive parks to enter, such as Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, charge an entrance fee of $35 per car per week, which is still an extremely cheap price.

In fact, policymakers should increase park entrance fees to more closely reflect the demand to visit. Current prices haven’t even kept up with inflation. As a result, National Parks are experiencing some major problems such as deferred maintenance, overcrowding, worse environmental outcomes, and underfunding. More accurate pricing for entrance fees can help address these issues and more.

National parks have often been called “America’s best idea.” If Americans truly feel this way, then park visitors should be expected to pay a reasonable user fee.