The Department of the Interior is backing down from a plan to triple fees at popular national parks in the face of widespread opposition from elected officials and the public. The plan included 17 of the nation’s most popular parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and Zion, forcing visitors to pay $70 per vehicle during the peak summer season. The park service received more than 109,000 comments on the proposal, most of them opposed, during a two-month comment period that ended in late December. The main purpose of the fee hike was to address an $11 billion maintenance backlog in the parks. Lawmakers are proposing a new bill that suggests using revenue from energy production on federal lands to help reduce the long-standing maintenance backlog at national parks.
