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<font size="-1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">I was hoping they might
go toward reinstituting some of the long-gone Geysers 404 walks,
ie the ones that went off trail in places like the Cascade Group
and Norris and allowed even long-time gazers to learn or
experience something new. Probably not a function of entrance
fees collected, but expanding latrine facilities in busy areas
and/or putting in facilities that don't make you feel you've
been consigned to an oubliette would also be favorite. But I
realize this falls mainly into the pipe dreams category.<br>
Karen Webb<br>
<br>
</font></font>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/20/2014 12:04 PM, Bruce Jensen
wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:1601588510.3262768.1416510247247.JavaMail.yahoo@jws106105.mail.bf1.yahoo.com"
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<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1416508350553_27812" dir="ltr"><span
id="yui_3_16_0_1_1416508350553_27811">I have a question.<br>
<br>
Would these backcountry fees be used to increase patrols in
order to cite people (like gazers) enjoying the backcountry
geyser basins?</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1416508350553_27814"> </div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1416508350553_27816">
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1416508350553_27815">Bruce Jensen,
<br>
California, USA
<br>
~~~~~~~~~~~~
<br>
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<div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 5:44 PM, Karen Webb
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:caros@xmission.com"><caros@xmission.com></a> wrote:<br>
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<div> <font size="-1"><font face="Comic Sans MS">Thanks
for the report, Jacob. I'm still mulling this
over. Paul's reaction to the rates as they are
is that they should just post a sign that says
"Poor people not welcome." I don't know as
much as I should about other sources of income
for national parks. I would feel after the
debacle with the government shut-down last
year that if the federal government can shut
down and, with virtually no warning, de facto
shut down all national parks in-season (don't
even get me started on WIC), they should also
be able to ante up funding to help support
park services. I think I've said this before,
but it's ironic considering that YA bookstores
carry the book that describes nature
deprivation syndrome, escalating fees for all
things park-related are probably already
excluding the segment of the population most
in need of contact with the natural world.</font></font>
It would be nice if there were a way to exchange
service for the fee if the bottom line is that
this money is needed to improve services, or
possibly to lower the fee if the visitors can
document low-income status.<br>
Karen Webb<br>
<br>
<div class="yiv3473877597moz-cite-prefix">On
11/18/2014 10:22 PM, Jacob Young wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica,
Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size:
12px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56585">I
attended one of the public comment
meetings this evening in Bozeman along
with Will Boekel. I didn't necessarily
have much to comment on but I wanted to
see what one of these meetings was like.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56588">The
crowd of about 20 heard from acting
superintendent Steve Iobst. The head
backcountry ranger and the head law
enforcement ranger plus another
Yellowstone somebody were also there.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56617">Overall,
there was not much opposition to these fee
increases. If anything, some were saying
"why not a little higher?" Most of the
discussion revolved around other revenue
sources. Including tour company fees,
Interagency fees, the *only* $10 Senior
Interagency pass, etc. The NPS does not
have the authority to change those fees.
My takeaway was that those would take
acts of Congress to change. Many NPS
Parks are currently in a comment period
around fee structure changes because this
is the time that all the legal acts and
such have allowed them to be opened to
change.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56635">A
tour guide suggested lowering tour fees to
encourage visitors to take guided services
thereby lessening the impact of private
autos and better "controlling" visitors.
It was a suggestion that didn't seem to
have much support behind it. I think when
most people think of Yellowstone tour
groups, they think big busses of foreign
(Asian) visitors. Vehicles with more than
26 passengers are in their own fee
category that the NPS can't touch at this
time. He did mention that Yellowstone is
well-known and desirable destination in
the "Pacific Rim": China, Taiwan, Japan
and Korea, and they only expect an
increase in the number of large 40, 50,
maybe even 60 passenger busses of visitors
from those regions as tour companies
catering to those countries are not
showing signs of decreasing. They are
continuing to look for the best ways to
manage changing park demographics and
visitor experiences.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56623">There
was general discussion of budgets, revenue
sources, concessionaire contracts, and who
pays for renovation projects.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56620">The
discussion then drifted away from fees per
se onto general park visitor experience,
primarily gate congestion and parking
congestion (Midway Geyser Basin and
Fountain Paint Pots were singled out
here). To paraphrase Iobst, "The solution
in the past was to build a bigger parking
lot. That is no longer the solution. It
is here where resource protection will
trump visitor experience. There have to
be other ways to deal with it." So,
naturally, the conversation went to a
shuttle bus system as exist in other big
NPS parks. All the NPS reps there seemed
to talk around the idea, mentioning cost
and not putting trust in the idea that
visitors are so willing to give up the
autonomy that an automobile provides.
Iobst also mentioned the unintended
consequences of shuttling in Zion: a heavy
increase in trail use and bicycling that
they were not prepared for...so, more
study is needed. They're definitely gun
shy after the failure of a regional bus
system for Yellowstone.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56657">Let's
see, oh yeah, entrance gates. Because of
the splitting of fees for Yellowstone and
Grand Teton, the South Gate will likely
get an added lane to relieve congestion.
The Gardiner Gateway project will be
entering phase 1 of 3 next year--the
"money is there" so it will be happening.
Some talk about the West Gate, but no
changes that I heard. Discussion of the
Chamber of Commerce in West assisting in
selling entrance passes (not sure if they
actually do that), or otherwise acting as
a place to ask questions in person instead
of holding up the entrance line was
overwhelmingly positive as a decrease in
gate congestion. A Gardiner business
owner offered to sell entrance passes at
her business and other Gardiner businesses
to alleviate North Gate waiting times.
The general consensus is that it's
probably too difficult to pull off
legally.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56668">The
NPS wants to get proactive about selling
entrance passes online, joining the 21st
century, etc. but are slow to get there
because...government. It was clear that
they WANT to hold on to the chance to stop
and talk to vehicles at the gate. For
some visitors, that is the only
interaction the NPS will get with them and
provide even limited education on how not
to die or cause destruction during their
visit. I don't see how gate congestion
will ever really be eliminated if that is
the case. It's clearly frustrating for
frequent visitors to have to wait in
traffic, but I get the impression that the
trade-off of talking to every vehicle is
probably worth it given budget constraints
and limited other options.</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56719">It
was a good experience overall and the
bureucracy of it all seemed much further
away in an intimate setting. I left
feeling satisfied that there ARE
reasonable, articulate, and thoughtful
public servants working in Yellowstone. </span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span><br>
</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56562"
dir="ltr"><span
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56691">Jake
Young</span></div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56638"><br>
</div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56689"><br>
</div>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56690"><br>
</div>
<div
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style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica
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<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56583"
style="font-family: HelveticaNeue,
Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida
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<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56582"
dir="ltr">
<hr
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56581"
size="1"> <font
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56612"
face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span
style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b>
JEFFREY CROSS <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
class="yiv3473877597moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:jeff.cross@utah.edu"
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:jeff.cross@utah.edu"><jeff.cross@utah.edu></a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="yiv3473877597moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" target="_blank"
rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu">"geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu"</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="yiv3473877597moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" target="_blank"
rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu"><geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu></a>
<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b>
Sunday, November 16, 2014 9:19 PM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b>
[Geysers] Entrance and Backcountry Fee<br>
</font> </div>
<div class="yiv3473877597y_msg_container"
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56613"><br>
<div id="yiv3473877597">
<style type="text/css">#yiv3473877597 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}</style>
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56615">
<div
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56614"
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: Tahoma; font-size:
10pt; direction: ltr;">Note that
Yellowstone is proposing to
increase the entrance fee, and
also to institute an overnight
backcountry use fee.<br>
<br>
Comments must be turned in by
December 5th, 2014.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
id="yiv3473877597yui_3_16_0_1_1415904305191_56755"
href="http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/14083.htm" target="_blank"
rel="nofollow">http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/14083.htm</a><br>
<br>
What do we think of these ideas?<br>
<br>
Jeff Cross<br>
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class="yiv3473877597moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:jeff.cross@utah.edu" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"
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