Maine AG joins effort to block park fee hike at Acadia
Courtesy / Maine Attorney General's Office
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has joined a bipartisan coalition of 11 attorneys general in writing a letter opposing the National Park Service's proposal to dramatically increase entrance fees at 17 national parks, including Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills has joined a bipartisan coalition of 11 attorneys general in writing a letter opposing the National Park Service’s proposal to dramatically increase entrance fees at 17 national parks, including Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island.
Under the Trump administration’s proposal, the per-vehicle entrance fee during the five-month peak season would increase to $70 from $25 or $30. Motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian entrance fees would also increase by double or more. The attorneys general sent a comment letter to NPS opposing the increased fees.
“Acadia is a national treasure that brings over three million people a year to Maine,” Mills said in a news release. “Every effort should be made to encourage more families to visit and enjoy our nation’s natural beauty that is protected in our national parks. Unfortunately, this proposal by the Trump administration will make it more difficult for working class families to afford this experience.”
Mills singled out the inconsistency of the Trump administration’s stated reason that the increased funding from higher fees is needed to deal with the backlog of necessary maintenance work at the national parks as the same time it is proposing to cut almost $300 million from the National Park Service’s budget.
“Acadia National Park injected over $270 million into our local communities last year,” she said, calling on others to join in opposing “this dramatic increase in park entrance fees and to protect communities that rely on national parks as important economic engines.”
In the comment letter to the National Park Service, Mills and her fellow attorneys general make three main points:
- “NPS’s stated justification for the fee increase is to address the serious maintenance backlog facing the national park system. However, the proposal could well reduce revenue by lowering visitation rates, and it comes at the same time that the Trump administration is proposing to cut NPS’s budget by far more than any increased fees might generate.
- “NPS has failed to consider or provide any data to support the criteria it must consider pursuant to the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004, including the 'aggregate effect of recreation fees on recreation users' or 'the public policy or management objectives served by the recreation fee.'
- “NPS’s Washington-centric approach, announcing the proposed fees for 17 parks without any detailed analysis or prior outreach to impacted communities and setting a short comment period that includes major holidays, is designed to minimize input from the American public to whom the national parks belong.”
Joining Mills in sending the comment letter were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and the District of Columbia.
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Bipartisan letter opposing proposed national park fee increases
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Bar Harbor resolution seeks full funding of Acadia's maintenance needs
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