Excerpt from Federal Recreation Fee Report, 1982: Including Federal and State and Private Sector Recreation Visitation and Fee Data

This section of the report is divided into four parts. The first part is a legislative history of the Federal recreation fee program. Part two is a description of the Golden Eagle, Golden Age, and Golden Access Passport programs. Data on the number of passports sold and/or issued and the revenues produced from these programs are presented. Part three is a series of summary tables which contain data on: the number of existing and potential fee management units; the amount of recreation fees collected; the direct and indirect costs to collect fees; campground capacity at existing and potential fee areas; and visitation statistics to fee and non-fee areas. Whenever appropriate, data are provided for the three year period from 1980 to 1982. Part four is a series of detailed exhibits which contain a State by State breakdown of the 1982 fee and visitation data presented in part three.

The policy of collecting recreation fees at national parks and other Federal areas began prior to the origin of the National Park Service. Fee collection began in Mount Rainier in 1908, Sequoia - Kings Canyon in 1910, Crater Lake in 1911, Glacier in 1912, Yosemite in 1913, Mesa Verde in 1914, and yellowstone-grand Teton in 1915.

Fee collection became general executive policy in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. From 1939 through 1942, a total of 40 units of the National Park System became designated fee areas. No specific authorization to support the expansion of outdoor recreation fee collection existed. However, the Act of August 31, 1951, (65 Stat. 290) authorized that any Federal government service, benefit, or privilege should be self-sustaining to the full extent possible.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act was the first legislation to authorize specific fees for outdoor recreation. Table 1 is a chronological listing of the legislative actions that have affected the outdoor recreation fee collection program since 1964.

Table 1. Legislative actions affecting the Federal outdoor recreation fee program, 1964 - 1982.

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