Visitors To National Parks Could See Higher Entrance Fees Next Year

DENVER (CBS4) - The National Park Service wants to raise the entrance fee rates for some of its properties next year.

The changes are outlined in a memo from the park service director.

If the hikes go through it could mean a fee increase of 50 percent at Rocky Mountain National Park and more than 150 percent at Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The idea is to raise money for improvements as the park system hits its 100th anniversary in 2016.

"The proposed increases in park entrance fees will allow us to invest in the improvements necessary to provide the best possible park experience to our visitors," Park Service Director Jon Jarvis said in a memo to regional directors in August.

Park directors will survey leaders with the goal of having the new rates in place next summer.

It would be the first fee increase since 2008.