Thursday, March 23, 2006

Pay to play?

I know people who live near Mueller State Park who haven't been inside its boundaries since it was opened. The reason: They won't pay to visit a place they used to explore free of charge.

Whether to charge or how much to charge is a dilemma faced by many states. Most states, like Colorado, rely on fees to help pay the bills.

On Monday, officials in Washington took a step in another direction, removing the $5 day-use parking fee from all state parks. They said attendance at many parks dropped dramatically after the fee was imposed. Officials there are optimistic attendance will increase in the 120 state parks now that entry is free again.

2 comments:

Dave Philipps said...

I'm often disheartened at what the fee money goes toward at state parks. Too much concrete and asphalt. I think a lot of parks (including the not-yet-open Cheyenne Mountain State Park) could benefit from less money.

UltraRob said...

Paying and the fact they don't allow dogs is the reason I've only been to Mueller State Park once and that was because my wife was helping with a family at a camp that bordered it. I needed somewhere to go mountain biking to kill some time. All I want is good trails and a trail map at the trailhead is a nice extra. Forget all the other expensive stuff.