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Category: Local News Releases Local News Releases
Published: 10 May 2018 10 May 2018

The National Park Service (NPS) announced today Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument will modify its entrance fees to provide additional funding for infrastructure and maintenance needs to enhance the visitor experience. Effective May 31, 2018 the entrance fees to the park will be $10.00 per person. An annual park pass will cost $45.00. All of the money received from entrance fees remains with the National Park Service with at least 80 percent of the revenue going to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.

Revenue from entrance fees remains in the National Park Service and helps ensure a quality experience for all who visit. Here in Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, 100 percent of entrance fees stay in the park and are devoted to spending that supports the visitor.

In response to public comments on a fee proposal released in October 2017, there will be a modest increase for all entrance fee-charging parks, rather than the higher peak-season fees initially proposed only for 17 highly-visited national parks.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Superintendent, Kevin Tillman states: "Fees keep the parks open, accessible, and safe for the visiting public. We are committed to providing a quality experience for all visitors. With fee monies, the park trail will be improved, water bars replaced, and the path made safer for public use.

National parks have experienced record breaking visitation, with more than 1.5 billion visitors in the last five years. Throughout the country, the combination of an aging infrastructure and increased visitation has put a strain on park roads, bridges, campgrounds, waterlines, bathrooms, and other visitor services and led to a $11.6 billion deferred maintenance backlog nationwide.

The additional revenue from entrance fees at Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument will replace the worn and damaged front doors of the visitor center with accessible and automatic doors, and pay for much-needed stabilization work on walls of the cliff dwellings.

Entrance fees collected by the National Park Service totaled $199.9 million in Fiscal Year 2016. The NPS estimates that once fully implemented, the new fee structure will increase annual entrance fee revenue by about $60 million.

The current rate of $10 per person has been in effect since 2015. The park is one of 117 National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee, the other 300 national parks will remain free to enter.

The price of the annual America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass and Lifetime Senior Pass will remain $80.

The National Park Service has a standardized entrance fee structure, composed of four groups based on park size and type. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument is one of 42 sites in group 2 service wide. Some parks not yet aligned with the other parks in their category will raise their fees incrementally and fully incorporate the new entrance fee schedule by January 1, 2020.

The complete fee schedule will change according to the following:

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument
 per vehicleper personper motorcyclePark Specific annual pass
CurrentN/A$5N/ANot available
May 31, 2018N/A$10N/A$40
January 1, 2019N/Ano changeN/Ano change
January 1, 2020N/A$15N/A$45