Higher fees at national parks: You've now got another month to tell Trump what you think

The Trump administration has quietly given the public an extra month to comment on its proposal to make it dramatically more expensive to visit Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion and 14 other popular national parks.

Last month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke proposed raising the vehicle entry fees for those parks from either $25 or $30 to $70 during busy season. Zinke originally set a comment deadline of Thanksgiving Day, November 23, giving the public just one month to weigh in. But earlier this week, the public comment page on the National Park Service's website had been updated to show a deadline of December 22 at 11:59 p.m.

Neither the Interior Department nor the National Park Service announced the deadline extension in a press release or on social media. Chris Clarke, California desert program manager for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association, speculated that public pressure had convinced federal officials to extend the comment period.

READ MORE: Joshua Tree residents fight Trump's 'insane' national parks plan

The Trump administration hasn't scheduled any public meetings to gather feedback on its proposal. Last time the park service increased entrance fees at some parks, in 2015, there was a much longer comment process that included public meetings and resulted in less dramatic changes. Joshua Tree, for instance, raised its vehicle fee from $15 to $25.

"While two months is much better than one month, it's still not sufficient to have people really examine the issues," Clarke said. "It would be nice if there were studies examining what the economic impacts would be on communities."

THE CURRENT: Sign up for The Desert Sun's energy and water newsletter

Zinke says his goal is to start working through the National Park Service's $11 billion maintenance backlog. But the Interior Department estimates that the fee increases would boost the park service's revenue by just $70 million per year. And President Trump has proposed slashing the park service's budget by $400 million next year.

"We need to have the vision to look at the future of our parks and take action in order to ensure that our grandkids' grandkids will have the same if not better experience than we have today," ZInke said in a statement last month announcing the proposed fee hikes.

Under Zinke's proposal, single-vehicle entrance fees during peak-visitation months would rise from either $25 or $30 to $70 at these 18 national parks:

Acadia (Maine)

Arches (Utah)

Bryce Canyon (Utah)

Canyonlands (Utah)

Denali (Alaska)

Glacier (Montana)

Grand Canyon (Arizona)

Grand Teton (Wyoming)

Joshua Tree (California)

Mount Rainier (Washington)

Olympic (Washington)

Rocky Mountain (Colorado)

Shenandoah (Virginia)

Sequoia & Kings Canyon (California)

Yellowstone (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming)

Yosemite (California)

Zion (Utah)

A coalition of 10 state attorneys general, plus the attorney general of Washington, D.C., submitted a public comment letter Wednesday opposing the proposed fee increases. The coalition — which included one Republican, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich — wrote that the higher entrance fees may actually reduce revenue by discouraging people from visiting national parks. The group also criticized the Trump administration for "offering a 60-day comment period that runs over a holiday season during which many Americans will be traveling and spending time with their families."

California Attorney General Xavier Beccera, who signed the letter, said "our goal as a nation should be to make our national parks supremely inviting and encourage more families to visit them."

"Instead, the Trump Administration proposes the complete opposite — making our treasured lands less accessible to many Americans," Beccera said in a statement. "In particular, this proposal would disproportionately impact modest-income families that are already underrepresented among national park visitors."

You can comment on the National Park Service's proposed fee increases by going to https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?documentID=83652.

Sammy Roth writes about energy and the environment for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.