Summer day hiking and backpacking into parts of Oregon’s central Cascade Mountains may no longer be free.

The U.S. Forest Service proposed new fees Tuesday for the Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters and Mount Washington wilderness areas, after previously announcing the 79 trailheads that will be limited by a new permitting system.

If approved, day hikers will need to pay $3 for a permit, while backpackers will pay $5 per night. A limited number of permits will be issued for each trailhead, available for purchase online at recreation.gov, which will also charge processing fees of $1 for day hikers and $6 per overnight group.

Permits will be required starting in summer 2020, between the Friday before Memorial Day and the last Friday in September.

The number of permits issued per day will vary from trailhead to trailhead. A full list of the trailheads and the number of permits that will be issued is posted in documentation of the plan online.

READ MORE: Oregon’s 47 wilderness areas

The sun rises over the Three Sisters and an arid scrubland on the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains. (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)LC- Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The permits are a response to the recent overcrowding and human impact on what are supposed to be pristine natural spaces.

“Overall our public who have commented have said very loud and clear that something needs to be done, and so that’s what we’re doing,” said Kassidy Kern, spokeswoman for the Deschutes National Forest, when the permits were initially proposed.

The new plan is the end result of a long process that has included several town hall meetings and thousands of written and verbal comments from the public. Objections to the proposed fees can be filed by email to WillametteRecFeeComments@usda.gov or dropped off at any Willamette or Deschutes national forest office.

The public comment period will run from October 9 to November 25, after which the forest service will make its final decision.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB